Squire to knight
by KillingTheShadows101
Summary: Marco is pressured into helping Hekapoo out with some of her problems with the magic high commission when he was in the middle of helping Star with her fancy ball she was having. That was meant to help mend relationships between monsters and mewmens. (cover image done by datedead-carl-artblog)
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1 helping hand

"Marco, are you sure everything is ready for the ball tonight? Because people are going to be coming here at any moment now. Both Monsters and Mewmens under the same roof, and I'm not going to have a repeat of what happened last time. Everything needs to be perfect and orderly for just this night because if it's not… bad things may happen if we're not careful!"

"Star, you're worrying too much. I quadruple checked anything and everything and it's all going according to the schedule that I personally created and planned, and I don't mean to brag but, I pulled it off flawlessly if I do say so myself."

"Really Marco? Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, Star I'm sure."

"Did you make sure all the food was prepared?"

"Check, I even helped the chefs cook all the meals that they'll be plating up."

"Are the decoration setup, right?"

"Check, Tom and I got it done in no time flat."

"Did you send out all the invitations?"

"Check, I personally handwritten them all and hand delivered them to their respective individuals and all said yes."

"Did you tell the guards not to treat the monsters that are coming here any differently than they would treat someone from a royal family?"

"Check, I made sure all those blockheads understood what was happening here. They won't be a problem tonight."

"Did my specially ordered dress come in on time?"

"Check, I signed the delivery order for it and placed it in your room. Also, Star."

"Yes, Marco?"

"You're wearing it," Marco pointed out to Star who then looked herself over.

"Oops, silly me. Kind of forgot that I was wearing it. Sorry about spazzing out on you, Marco. It's just that this may really be my last chance to mend fences with Monsters and Mewmens. Ever since the monster temple incident with Miss Heinous or Meteora and Mina Loveberry, the monster kids have been avoiding me. They must really hate me for what I put them through," Star started to cry as her tears started to ruin her makeup.

"What?! No Star, they don't hate you they're just uh, laying low for now. After all, they did almost die but that doesn't mean they don't hate you at all. They really appreciate what you're doing for them."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they said so themselves when I handed them the invitation to come to your ball. And yes, before you ask they are coming to the ball."

Star wipes her tears away with her sleeves and gave Marco a big hug. "Thanks, Marco you're the best squire and best friend a princess could as for."

"Don't worry about it Star," Marco patted Stars back lightly before he lightly pushing her off him. "Star, look at me."

Star did as she was asked and looked Marco in the face. Looking deep into his eyes Star saw the claim in his eyes which told her everything was fine and nothing bad was going to happen. She felt lucky to have Marco at her side, she wouldn't have been able to handle all the stress of planning this event without him.

Hell, even the previous event would've never happened without Marco there to help her out with all the signatures and party planning. He even somehow got the goblin truck to give out the goblin dogs to the people who asked for them without making them wait in a long line for no reason, which was impressive in her book.

Sure, Star did have some other help from Tom and Pony Head, but Tom tended to back away from anything remotely political which was weird given he was a prince after all. He did help out here and there, but it was never enough to really get anything done. And Pony Head was more of a hindrance than anything remotely helpful.

She loved Pony Head as if she was a sister, but Pony Head's sisters did somewhat try to kill her. Then there was the fact she kidnapped Rich Pigeon which also almost got her executed by Death by a Thousand Pecks. Star also did hate to admit it, but Pony Head was very self-centered and was hard to rely on for very important matters.

As Star continued to look at Marco, she saw him rummaging through his coat pockets as if he was trying to find something.

"Uh Marco, what are you doing?"

"Trying to find my cleansing wipes. Ah, found them!"

"Why?"

"Because, when you started breaking down in tears you kind of smudged your makeup."

"What?!" Star screeched out. "This took me two hours to get it just right, I won't have time to fix this!" Star was now getting furious now as she stomped her feet in frustration.

Luckily Marco was there to calm her down as he pulled out some clean wipes and started to clean her face of the ruined makeup.

"Star it doesn't matter," he said calmly as he held her face still as he wiped away her smudged makeup.

"Yes, it does! I spent a long time getting myself to look good and presentable!"

"Really? Because I think your natural look looks better."

"Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?"

"No Star, I'm not. Makeup makes people look kind of fake to me and I'm pretty sure many people would agree with me on this. Besides, to me you look far more beautiful without makeup on."

"Oh, Marco that so sweet of you to say," Star gave Marco a quick hug and as she let go of his she gave him a few quick and soft playful jabs to his arm "You're no misunderstood bad boy, you really just a misunderstood lady killer~"

"Star!" Marco called out in embarrassment "Okay Star look. The guests will be here any minute now so head to the ballroom now. Tom is waiting for you now and he's getting impatient with waiting. I'll be heading to the entrance of the castle to greet all the guests that come in, alright?"

Star gave Marco a silly salute with a very serious face as she stands at attention.

"You can count on me, Sir Diaz"

"Star, I'm not a knight."

"You're not a knight 'yet' Marco, but you will be. I just know it."

"Can't you just I don't know, knight me here now? All you have to do a bend the rules a little," Marco joked which was seen by Star but she decided to play along.

"Oh, silly Marco. To be knighted you'd have to study and train under the tutelage of a knight or someone of higher or similar authority for a few years or complete some sort of great quest. I mean, I may be able to bend the rules a little, but I can't bend them that much."

"Hehehe, I know that already Star I was just playing with you."

"I know that silly, I was just playing along with you."

"You sure you were?"

"Alright, Mr. Misunderstood Lady Killer. Go and make sure that our guests are welcome when they start coming in."

"I'm right on it, your majesty."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me my boyfriend is waiting for me in the ballroom," and with Star started running down the hall to the ballroom.

Marco gave a small smile as he waved goodbye to Star. This didn't go unnoticed by Star as she had turned and saw this she gave a similar response back, causing her to stumble and fall on her face.

"Star, are you okay?!" Marco screamed as he was about the rush to her side.

"No, no I'm okay," Star call out before Marco could move a muscle to help her. "This used to happen a lot when I was a kid, so I'm used to it this." Star explained as she dusted herself off and continued running.

"Oh Star, may you never change," Marco said to himself as he 'walked' to the front entrance of the castle to wait for the guests to arrive.

It took 5 min of waiting at the front entrance for the first guest to arrive and Marco was happy the first guest was a familiar face.

"Hey, Buff Frog it's good to see you," Marco greeted his monster friend.

He wore the same tunic he had always worn, but it was now accompanied by a thin black tie and a pair of long green pants.

"Ah, Karate Boy it's good to see you to. I hope I'm not late or anything."

"No, you're like the first to arrive," Marco looked around Buff frog. "Hey, where are your kids?"

"Oh, I left them with Bull Dog and Fly Boy to babysit for tonight."

"Such a shame, Star was looking forward to seeing them again."

"Oh, don't worry about it. She'll be seeing them next time I'm sure."

"I know she will," Marco looked down at his clipboard and ticked Buff Frog name off. "Head inside, Star's waiting for you." With that Buff Frog did as he was told and enter the castle.

After Buff Frog left, it wasn't long before Marco could see the next guests approaching, very fast from a distance. Marco already knew who it was from the body shape and color of the creature, Jorby. Which meant the green person on his back was most likely Kelly.

Jorby came to a screeching halt, right in front of Marco, he narrowly avoided ramming into him.

"Jorby! I told you to slow down, you nearly run over Marco!"

"Yeah, whatever I didn't, did I? Marco is still like in one piece and alive and well and stuff oh and by the way Marco looking shape."

"Thanks, Jorby, and may I say your bowtie suits you very well. It helps brings out the color of your fur."

"Thanks, bro."

Marco then looked up at Kelly as she dismounted from Jorby and saw she was wearing a nice one-piece knee high sea-foam green dress that complimented her hair and skin tone.

"Hey, Kelly," Marco greeted as he gave her a small wave. "You're looking very divine today, hell I might even go as even far to say you may even be among the best dressed here."

The small complement Marco gave Kelly made her blush red hot as she tried to hide her embarrassment by simply laughing it off. Jorby noticed this and snickered at her expense. Kelly, not like being laughed at punched Jorby in his right front leg as hard as she could.

"OW! Sorry, sorry… god, that hurt! Did you have to hit me that hard?"

"Oh, get over it, big baby."

As Kelly and Jorby bickered with each other Marco ticked their names off the list. After waiting for them to stop, Marco thought that it was time for him to step in and make them stop.

"Ahem," Marco clear his throat loud enough for the both to hear. "So~ do you guys want to attend this ball or~ do you just want to fight each other to the death. And if so could you do it someplace else if you don't mind," Marco joked causing both to stop.

"Sorry about that Marco," Kelly apologized.

"Yeah, me too. We'll behave now."

"Good, now head right in," Marco moved off to the side and welcomed them in.

As they entered the castle and passed Marco who stepped back in place Kelly paused and turned back to Marco. She took a deep breath and approached Marco and tapped him on his shoulder gaining back his attention.

"Oh, Kelly you need something?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you would like~…" Kelly stopped mid-sentence as she was rethinking what she would say, "to come and spare with me and Jorby in two days?"

Hearing this Marco gave a smile and gave a small nod in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds fun."

"Great, I'll call you then and fill you in on where we're going to meet up."

Walking back up to Jorby Kelly mentally cursed at herself. 'Great! Way to go, Kelly, you choked, all you had to say was. Hey, Marco, you want to dance with me when you finish with ushering people in and possibly go out with me sometime?'

Looking down Jorby could see Kelly's internal dilemma and tried to give his friend some words of encouragement.

"Hey, cheer up Kelly, there's still a chance."

"I just asked a guy I liked to a sparring match instead of asking him to dance with me."

"Oh, come on, Kelly. Like, a lot of people make-out with each other during the heat of battle."

"Yeah, and those people are usually demons."

"Hey, you never know. Marco maybe into that sort of thing."

"Jorby, he's not that sort of guy! He's more of a caring and loving sort of guy. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't like it if I just pushed him down and have my way with him." After saying that she quickly started imagining the scenario in her head, a slight bit of drool slipping from the corner of her mouth.

"Oh~ Kelly didn't know you were that sort of girl~" Jorby teased. "I'm sure he'd like it, he seems like the kind of guy that likes them wild and adventures."

"I really do hope so…"

As time went on more and more people came. Most encounters were uneventful, all he would do was greet them, check their names off a list, and let them pass through. Some of the more noticeable guests were when the princesses from Saint Olga's that asked him to sign some movie posters and dolls. The others were the monster kids that attended Stars last attempt to throw a party. They all looked kind of nerves and flinching at the smallest of sounds around them.

Marco managed to convince them that they had nothing to fear hear and that they would not have a repeat of what happened last time. He even gave his word, this seemed to really help put their minds at ease. They all saw Star was really trying to make good Monster and Mewmen relations work and that she was putting a lot at risk for them.

"Hey Marco, could you say to Star that we're sorry for avoiding her for these past couple of weeks?"

"You know, it would mean a lot more to Star if you guys said it to her instead of me."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that. Oh! And we didn't even say thank you for helping us out in the monster temple before."

"Don't mention it, just head on in and go talk to Star. She was really worried about you guys."

"Will do, man."

As the monster kids went in, a portal opened and out stepped three knights Sir Stabby, Sir Dashing of Muzzleton and Lady Whosits. All three of them were wearing ornate armor, freshly cleaned and polished, most likely by their respective squire.

Speaking of which right behind the knights their squires followed suit. Baby man, Old guy and his somewhat rival Higgs.

"Marco, my dear lad! It's good to see you."

"Yes, it's good to see you two Sir Stabby, how have you been?"

"Mighty fine if I do say so myself. I and the other knights just got back from a thrilling quest to slay a foul fiend that was terrorizing the countryside on some far-off dimension. Thankfully our squires had waxed our armor just in the nick of time for the ball."

"That sounds great. But what kind of fiend was it?"

"My, what an inquisitive question to ask," Marco started to have a worried look on his face as he may have sullied Sir Stabby honor. "A great trait for any aspiring knight to have."

"Oh, thank god," Marco quietly muttered as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"For you see, the fiendish creature we slew was none other than a Barghest! Tis an intense battle of knightly valor versus bestial instinct. Sir Dashing over here nearly had his dashing face mauled off by the fiend!"

"Yeah those guys can be a pain to deal with. Especially when they ambush you out of nowhere. One minute you think you're fighting a goblin or wolf, next minute your fighting a hungry Barghest that's trying you eat your flesh."

The three knights and their squires looked at Marco questionably as he continued to rant on about Barghests. From what they do to their victims to how one would attempt to defeat them.

"Oh, gee Marco, it actually sounds like you've fought a whole pack of Barghest before," Higgs butted in on Marco's rant.

Marco stopped mid-rant as his eyes fell on Higgs. She was wearing a dark green medieval dress with gold flower highlights decorating the lower part of her dress. Marco would never admit it but Higgs did look really cute in a dress.

"Well just so you know I actually have."

"I bet you just talked them to death like the big nerd that you are."

"No, I'd used my sword or there was one time I snapped one's neck."

Hearing this Higgs walked right up in Marco's face and stared him down. Marco not wanting to back down did the same thing to Higgs, all the while the two other squires cheered for Higgs on the sidelines. On the other hand, the three knights simply looked on with Sir Stabby shedding a tear of pride for his squire.

"Look at that, my squire has only been under my tutelage for just over a year now and already has her very own rival. Kind of reminds me how we lot meet with each other," Sir Stabby reminisced as the other two nodded in agreement.

As the stare down was heating up Higgs decided to make the first move as she, without Marco noticing. Grabbed at his stomach and gave a nice hard squeeze. Feeling Higgs suddenly grab him Marco flailed his arms a little forcing Higgs to let go of him.

"What the hell, what was that all about Higgs?"

"Just wanted to see if there was any truth to your claims that you snapped a Barghest's neck and I got to say I'm very disappointed. I mean you've got some muscles but your noodle like arms couldn't snap a bundle of twigs let alone a Barghest's neck. You'd have to be as muscle-bound as Lady Whosits to do that sort of thing," Higgs pointed at as she points to Lady Whosits who was now flexing her muscles.

"So, tell me, how is it possible for a nerd like you to snap a Barghest's neck let alone kill one?"

"You really want to know? Not afraid that I'll talk you to death?" Marco saw his words struck a nerve.

"I knew it! You were just lying through your teeth!"

"I don't care what you think about me. So just hurry up, get inside and have a nice time at the ball."

Higgs didn't even dignify Marco with a response. Instead, she crossed her arms puffed out her cheeks and walked right past Marco, not even looking at him as she does this. The other squires and knight follow close behind all except Sir Stabby as he stayed behind for a bit.

Sir Stabby walked right up to Marco and gave him a friendly hug that both looked and felt like a headlock.

"Thank you, Marco my dear boy"

"Uh, for what exactly?"

"For being my squire's rival of course."

"Why?"

"Because ever since you two met, a fire has been set off within Higgs. Now she works twice as hard as she has ever done before, working diligently and tirelessly to master her swordsmanship to new heights. That is why I thank you for being the push she needed. Or now that I think about it, it may also be a combination of you and Princess Turdina's influence. I mean, she's watched that 'Princess Turdina' movie like several times now plus, she even has all of her merchandise."

'Oh crap! I wonder what she'll do to me if she ever found out I'm Princess Turdina' Marco thought.

"Anyways Marco I wish you luck on your path to knighthood," Sir Stabby said as he released his grip on Marco and headed off to catch up with the others of his group.

As Marco picked himself up and dusted himself off he ticked the names off the list of the knights and squires that just entered. The next guest that arrived was Rich Pigeon. As they both exchanged a quick greeting, Rich Pigeon handed Marco a small sack of gold and gems.

"Uh, Richard what's this for?"

"This, Marco, is thanks for helping me rid my kingdom of those creepy man-faced cat people by sending them all back to their cursed dimension. Let it be known I am not one to skip out on paying back my friends!"

"Oh, but I can't accept this so please take it…" Before Marco could finish his sentence, Rich Pigeon placed his fake hand over Marco's mouth to silence him.

"Please, Marco, just take the money. After all, you deserve it. Also, this is barely considered chump change to me so just take it."

"Okay," Marco agreed as he placed it in his pocket.

"Great! See you soon, Marco!"

"Yeah, see you soon Rich Pigeon." As Marco looked at his list and ticked Rich Pigeon's name off he now only needed to wait on a few other people to arrive before he could join the ball.

And as luck would have it another portal opened. From out of the portal exited King Pony Head and Princess Pony Head with her sisters following close behind.

"Late as always Pony Head," Marco said as he gave Pony Head a death glare. "You were supposed to help out with the ball preparations."

"Oh, chill out, Earth Turd. I had to get ready for the ball and you know how I like to look good for the hot hunks that be coming to this shindig."

"Whatever, I have no time to argue just get inside and go see Star. She's been waiting for you all day."

"Will do, Earth Turd. Come on girls! Lets. Get. Wild!" Her sisters all cheered as they all flew past Marco to get to dance floor as their father slowly trailing behind them.

With the last of the invited guests ticked off his list, he placed his clipboard away and was about to head to the ball when he had felt a hot burning sensation slap him in the back of his head.

"Hekapoo!" Marco screamed out her name not even needing to see the person who slapped him to know it was her.

"Sup, Flesh wad," Hekapoo greeted smugly.

"What was that for? And what are you doing here?"

"Well~ first off I slapped you because I felt like it and you deserved it. Oh, and let's just be clear on one thing, I've still not forgiven you for not telling me about Star going portal hoping!" Hekapoo pointed out as a reminder of how Marco lied to her.

Upon hearing that Marco did feel very remorseful about it and how they ended their last meeting on such a sour note.

"Look I'm sorry about that, okay Hekapoo. I really am. I should've told and trusted you from the start. I'd do anything to make you forgive me."

Hekapoo give off an evil grin as she crossed her arms, "Really? Anything?"

Marco did not like where this was going. "Yes."

"Good, because I need some help."

"You need my help?"

"Yes," Hekapoo confirmed.

"With what?"

"Some warlord is abusing the magic in his dimension and is using it to gain more power for himself. You know classic villain stuff that you see every week."

"That kind of sounds like something that would be Rhombulus's duty to do as he is you know the enforcer of magical laws and stuff," Marco pointed out.

"Yeah that would be the case normally, but Rhombulus is in the time-out corner for trapping random people with his Crystallokinesis. So, it now falls onto me to pick up his slack," Hekapoo explained. "That's where you come in."

"Look I'd love to help you, but I have this really important ball to attend to and I don't want to mess it up. Because you see if we mess this up Monsters and Mewmens may never have friendly relations," Marco tried to explain but his explanation fell on deaf ears as Hekapoo grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and pulled him down to her level.

"Okay look here, Marco Diaz, you owe me big time, and so you are going to help me with this." With her point firmly understood she lets go of Marco. "And besides, it's just a silly little ball. I'm sure Star can handle it without you there."

Marco thought about it and concluded that Star should be able to handle it herself. If she had any problems with the ball her mother and or Tom could help her out if needed.

"Okay you win H-poo, I'll help you out. I just got to tell Star first before I go."

"No time for that," Hekapoo exclaimed as she opened a portal with her scissors. "This is a very time-sensitive mission, and just so we're clear you still owe me big time."

Marco simply rolled his eyes as he followed Hekapoo through her portal.


	2. Ch 2 hot body

Ch 2 Hot Body

Stepping out of the red portal Marco found himself in a dead looking forest. The trees had no leaves, grass was all brown and flaked away under his feet, he could not hear any animals, and the very air tasted stale and bitter.

Looked back at the portal Marco saw Hekapoo step out. "Okay now that we're here mind filling me in?"

"Sure, you see this place?" she asked pointing at their surroundings.

Marco was a tad confused as he looked at his settings again. "Yeah, we're in some sort of dead forest or something."

"Correct Meat-Bag, but this 'dead forest' as you put it wasn't always so dead. Just a week ago this place had a flourishing ecosystem of such beauty you could just sit down and just gaze in its beauty for hours on end."

"Speaking from experience I assume?"

Hekapoo didn't immediately answer Marco, instead she took in the scenery and remembered better times. "Yeah," she solemnly answered with sadness in her voice, "You would've love to see it in its prime."

Marco saw tears dripping from her face "Hekapoo… I'm sorry," Marco apologized as he closed the gap between them and pulled her in for a hug.

Hekapoo herself did hug back but that lasted only for a few seconds before Marco felt Hekapoo slap the back of his head with her burn flaming hand.

"OW!" Marco screamed in pain as he broke the hug. "What the hell, Hekapoo! What was that for?"

"That was for making me feel all sappy and sad and stuff," Hekapoo answer as she wiped away a tear. "That and I did say this was a time-sensitive mission. Okay look, the forest here is not dead just yet but it is almost on its way to being dead. So, we don't really have much time to talk about the past and stuff. At most, I think we have about 12 hours if we are lucky or at your worst, I think we may have less than 6 hours or so."

"So, then what's the plan then?" Marco asked still rubbing the back of his head and hoping he didn't get a bold spot again.

"Well first off, I cannot have you fighting like this," Hekapoo gestured at Marco.

"You just gestured at all of me."

"I know, that's because I need suave and ruggedly muscular you. Not small weak and scrawny you for this."

"Well if you want my muscles you'd have to wait 15 more years for that. Maybe 8 years if you're lucky."

"I don't have time to wait for that," Hekapoo reached into her dresses cleavage causing Marco to look away with a blush as she pulled out two items. "Here catch Meat-Bag," Hekapoo warned as she tossed the items to Marco.

Marco was a little off guard by Hekapoo reaching into her dress and nearly revealing her voluptuous bosom in front of him, Marco stumbled a little as he caught the items. Looking at the two items he caught the first one was a very well made ornate Bowie knife. The handle was made from some type of bone, dragon bone if he was not mistaken. Marco had seen some weapons and armor made from dragon bone before on his trial to earn his scissors, but they were very rare and far between. He knew that the older the dragon the higher the quality of the bone. By the looks of it, considering the maker of the knife, Marco could guarantee one hundred percent the dragon bone was of the highest and finest quality one could get.

Unsheathing the blade to examine its razor-sharp edge, it appeared so sharp even looking at it could cut flesh. However, that was not the main eye catcher of the knife, as it had glowing red runes carved into it. Most likely some sort of enchantment related to fire, given her motif as it would be the most logical conclusion. The metal that the blade itself was made of was something completely unknown to him, again most likely a very rare and strong metal from some far-off dimension.

The second item was a gilded crystal amulet and within the crystal, Marco could see a tiny pair of scissors overlapping a tiny pocket watch surrounded by what looked like a galaxy. Holding onto the two items Marco could feel that they were warm, not hot just uncomfortable 'warm' to the touch.

"Did you really have to put them there?" Marco asked embarrassingly as he tried to put on a tough face, but his blush gave him away.

Seeing his embarrassment Hekapoo decided to capitalize on it. "What can I say, these Bad Boys make excellent pockets," she pointed out as she fondled and jiggled her breasts lightly.

Marco being the gentleman that he is covered his face as he looked away from Hekapoo's very unladylike behavior.

"Oh, come on, Marco, you've seen and been in way more compromising positions with me in in the past!"

"Those times were with your clones by accident and you know it! Can we please get back to the matter at hand here?!"

"You know, you should learn to be more grateful. After all, I just gave you two very powerful items and I still haven't heard you say thank you yet," Hekapoo smirked but saw how annoyed Marco was and decided it was time to actually take this seriously. "But you are right. We do really need to get back to the matter at hand here."

Marco saw her demeanor change from her usually laid back and moxie attitude to a more serious one. Looking down at the items he couldn't help but think of the past when he was hunting down Hekapoo's clones. Back then, Hekapoo would only at very rare times give Marco some food to eat back when he was just fresh on the trail and didn't know yet how to feed off the land or have any coin to spend, not including that one time she gave him some new clothes to wear. To make a long story short, when one gets not only older but also starts building some (a lot) of muscle a small red hoodie will no longer suffice.

Swallowing his embarrassment and pride Marco did kind of need to thank Hekapoo for the knife and amulet because they were cool though he favored the blade a little more.

"Thanks, Hekapoo they're really cool, especially the Bowie knife," Marco complimented.

"Really~" Hekapoo's signature grin returning to her face, "I thought you would've like the amulet more than the silly little knife?"

"Why?"

"Put it on and you'll find out."

Marco looked the amulet with concern, "It's not going to kill me if I wear it, right?"

"Nope, it won't."

Marco shrugged his shoulders and was about to put it on until he thought of something that might happen if he put it on.

"It's not going to give you control over me, is it?"

"Pffffffft hahaha!" Hekapoo bellowed out in laughter "Oh Marco, I practically already own you so having an amulet that does that would be redundant."

"Whatever you say."

With no more room for doubt in Marcos mind, he took one deep breath and placed the amulet around his neck, instantly bursting into flames. Marco didn't even have the time to scream out in pain though that was not an issue in this instance. There was no pain as the fire dispersed within a fraction of a second leaving Marco unhurt but changed.

"Got to say, I like what I see," Hekapoo complemented leaning back a bit to get a better view.

Marco looked over at Hekapoo who now looks notably shorter than she was a second ago. Bringing his hands to his face Marco saw his arms were jacked. Looking down he saw his well-toned and defined abs that he had back in Hekapoo's dimension.

"My hot bod! It's back!" Marco cheered in his more masculine voice as he flexed his massive biceps feeling the strength he now had back "Oh it feels so good to have these bad boys back!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

Looking back at Hekapoo Marco couldn't help but notice that Hekapoo wasn't making any eye contact with him. Instead, he felt her eyes were looking down on his lower part of him. As he looked down at himself again he saw his abs, as in he could acutely see them when he clearly remembered that he was wearing a tuxedo.

Turned out when his body was engulfed in flame and his body grew three times in size, the clothes that he was wearing ripped and tore under the strain or maybe it was the flame, Marco didn't know. The only article of clothing that didn't rip, tear or burn off was his underwear, but they were only holding on by a thread. Marco could feel Hekapoo's eyes glued to his crotch. Without feeling how tight it was Hekapoo didn't need to use her imagination to know his current.

Marco quickly covered himself up to preserve some of his dignity and self-respect, but sadly that was far too late for that.

"Oh, ~ did I forget to mention that it doesn't work well with clothes that aren't meant to stretch out? Sorry, not sorry."

"Oh hahaha, very funny Hekapoo," Marco laughed sarcastically. "I assume you have also brought a spare set of clothes for me to wear somewhere around here."

Hekapoo didn't bother to answer the question, instead pulling out her personal pair of dimensional scissors, cut a small portal, reached into it, and pulled out a pair of new clothes and shoes. She then handed them to Marco and waited for him to start changing into them.

"Um, a little privacy here would be nice."

"Oh come, I have seen you naked before."

"You know Hekapoo, I was very busy with the ball before I came here to help you. So consider yourself lucky that I'm still around to help you."

"Oh please, it's not like you had a choice in the matter. You would have helped me no matter what you were doing previously."

Hekapoo waited silently for Marco to respond but he never did. All he did was stand his ground and glare at her. This to her was clear, this was not the same weak-willed human that was standing beside her five minutes ago. Guess the mind changes with the body.

"Fine! You win," Hekapoo turned around, facing away from Marco and even covered her eyes with both her hands. "Happy now?"

"Very!"

Marco made sure that he changed quickly, keeping an eye on Hekapoo during the process. Just to make sure that she didn't try anything funny, after all. He couldn't ever let his guard down around Hekapoo. Marco had found that out the hard way when he was hunting her and her clones down.

"Okay, you can look now I'm decent."

Turning around Hekapoo couldn't help but applaud herself for how well Marco's new outfit suited him. She was worried how it would turn out because she wasn't very experienced in textiles compared to her metal work, but now seeing the result she was very happy with it. The new clothes Marco was wearing had somewhat the same look as what he wore the last time he was in her dimension. However, these clothes had a cleaner, sleeker, and updated look to them and were made with the highest quality materials. Compared to the patchwork outfit he had before. After all, if she were to make anything it would have to be exquisite and not something half-assed.

"Got to say Hekapoo, I like the new threads."

"What can I say, I'm an artist."

"So... what's with the amulet and knife, if you don't mind me asking you?"

"Well since you asked nicely Marco that amulet you're wearing is the only one of its kind. You see the tiny pair of scissors?"

Marco looks at the amulet "Yeah, but now that I'm thinking about it, it kind of looks like my pair of scissors you forged for me."

"It should, because I made it so."

"I don't get?"

"Of course, Dumb-Dumb, I haven't told you its function yet."

"Oh, continue."

"You see those scissors have made a tiny portal inside the amulet that leads into my dimension, allowing the flow of time to encircle the wearer."

"No offense Hekapoo, but that sounds like something way out of your field of expertise to do."

"Ouch! Marco, kick a girl down when she's giving you nice stuff why don't you," Hekapoo joked. "But you are right I did have help in making it. That little pocket watch for starters, I had to hunt down Father Time to get that which is the part that pulls out the time from my dimension."

"Did you really have to 'hunt' him down?"

"Yes! Because for some reason, someone gave Father Time the bright idea of riding on top of a gigantic cog being pulled by equally gigantic time hamsters! The guy does not stay in one place for a second!"

Marco thought it would be best if he didn't mention his involvement in that as he is still in a lot of trouble with Hekapoo and he did want to get in any more.

"So, what about the galaxy part?"

"Oh, that's just Omnitraxus' handiwork. He helped freeze the flow of time to keep it in place while also allowing you to freely move in your original time stream. Think of it like a frozen river, the top part may be frozen over, but underneath the ice the water still flows. So, if you wear the amulet you are practically ageless so long as you wear the amulet. The crystal it's made of is Rhombulus's doing. That's just there to make the amulet hard to damage and to keep the other parts together."

"So, I'm immortal now?"

"You know you're lucky you're cute when you act so stupid," Hekapoo teased. "But being ageless and immortal are two very separate things. For example, if someone cut off your head you'd be dead. That and immortality doesn't really exist, everyone dies eventually one way or another. It's just the way things are no matter how powerful you are."

"Okay then… so the knife. I'm theorizing that it must have some sort of fire-based ability when in use. Like if I swing it well an arc of fire may just shoot out or well it just burns whatever it cuts"

"And what makes you think it's just fire? What about water, earth, wind or all the above?"

"Because I know you too well. Water is cool calm and collected. Don't get me wrong you can be all those things at times, but your fiery personality always overrides the former. Earth is typically strength, endurance, and stubborn resolve, all of which you have in spades. However, earth is slow, basic and very predictable, some may even say stupid. And with my adventures hunting you I've learned that you're quick on your feet, able to run circles around me, complexes in your actions that you take and very cunning and strategic in mind."

Hekapoo was silent as she simply listened to Marco point out her faults and strength in detail and couldn't help but blush a little. All the compliments Marco was giving her was making her start to lose some, if not most of her cool, but her stubborn resolve to allowed her to remain cool, calm, and collected. At least for now.

"And last, but not least, wind is the element of freedom, associated with someone who isn't tied down by rules, regulations, responsibilities, and commitments. If a random person were to meet you for the first time, they'd think all those things were true about you, but I know that it's just a facade you put up. You may act laid back and carefree, but who are you trying to fool here. You're a part of 'Magic High Commission', an organization that just screams authoritative figure."

Marco grinned as he looked down on Hekapoo, her arms now crossed and a pout showing clear signs of embarrassment and frustration.

"So that's how I know that this knife doesn't have any other element than fire imbued with it. Plus, you can only do fire enchantments, so the other elements are out of the question. I know you enchanted this knife with something else, but I don't know what and I don't know how to use it so uh please tell me."

Straightening herself out Hekapoo cleared her throat before she started to speak again trying to casually regain her composure.

"Well since you asked so nicely Meat-Bag I tell you, draw the knife," Hekapoo ordered as Marco did as he was told. "Now focus, think of fire or really something hot."

Closing his eyes Marco envisioned a lit candle as an easy starting point to gauge its power from lowest to highest. Opening his eyes Marco looked at the blade to see it was glowing a faint orange and that embers were coming off flickering off it.

"That looks so very pathetic!" Hekapoo insulted as she had a look of disbelief plastered on her face at the sight of the small flickering embers. "Do you need to learn how to meditate, because it really does help. I could even teach you how to meditate if you wanted to… oh, wait. Scratch that I almost forgot we're pretty stretched for time as it is now but maybe if we..."

"I know how to meditate okay?!"

"Then why is the flame so small and puny if you know how to meditate?"

"Because I envisioned a candle, okay?"

"A single candle?"

"Yes, a single candle," Marco clarified.

"I told you to envision fire, not a small minuscule candle!"

"Well, I just wanted to play it safe! I thought that if I envisioned something like the sun I may set myself on fire. Also given the fact there is lots of foliage and dried out trees that could catch fire I thought we could avoid dealing with a forest fire right now!"

Hekapoo silently stared at Marco for a second before she started to giggle a little, soon laughing wholeheartedly.

"Hehehehehehehe! Now there's the Marco I remember. No matter how much older you get or how muscly you become you'll always be the same old safe kid from the day I first met you."

"I so regret telling you about that, it's so embarrassing."

"Really? I find it quite endearing, it shows that you care. Remember that time you saved one of my clones from a rock slide and later scolded her for two hours on the dangers of mountain climbing."

"Yeah I remember. Clone 36 if I'm remembering it correctly, she called me an idiot for saving her instead of letting the rock slide kill her as it would have smothered her flame out."

"You do still realize it would have counted as your victory, right?"

"Yeah, but that would have been a hollow victory. I wanted to win by my own hands and not by circumstances that were out of my control."

"Okay that's enough, we're wasting time here. Let's get back to the problem at hand with the knife and your lack of focus on fire."

"I don't have problems with focusing I can envision fire just fine I only started with a candle so that I could properly gauge its power starting from a weaker point of view that's all there is to it, okay?"

"Okay then, prove it."

"With pleasure," Macro declare with zeal.

Closing his eyes again, Marco now envisioned a campfire. For some strange reason also picturing his mom and dad beside him as they were roasting marshmallows over the campfire to make some s'mores. Pondering on that thought for a moment Marco realized he'd not seen his parents for some time now.

'After this is all done, I think I should visit mom and dad to see how things are going' Marco promised himself in his mind.

Opening his eyes, he saw the knife now fully coated in flame as well as Hekapoo looking on to him with a gleeful smile.

"Well~ guess you could do it," as she said this Marco flashed a cocky smirk "Ready to learn the next feature I placed on the knife?"

"Heck yeah!"

"Now try thinking of your knife becoming a sword."

Doing as he was told he instinctively took up a sword stance as the knife in his hand turned into pure red-hot, molten metal in his hands. That caught Marco off guard for a moment, but he noticed the molten metal didn't burn or singe his hand. Instead, it re-shaped itself into a large broadsword and like the knife before it, it too was reeved in flames.

"This is so cool!" Marco commented as he gave a few test swings seeing it was perfectly balanced. "This is way cooler than my previous sword."

"Well~ I know what my man likes."

"By the way, what happened to my sword I had before?"

"That old hunk of scrap, you left it in my dimension and after a few years it rusted away to nothing."

"Aw man, I really liked that sword. It took me forever to find a katana."

"Oh, please Marco, katanas are overrated. I mean come on, they tend to chip and brake because of how thin they are. You need something more durable and heavy making this perfect for someone with muscles like you. Plus, broadswords have better hand guards, after all, I don't want you losing any finger because you wanted to be a weeb."

"I guess you're right. The sword I had before was getting some chips and dull."

"Aw, don't fret Marco you look more like a proper knight with that sword in your hands. Well, mostly because I made it and if you used a katana you'd look like an out-of-touch tryhard in Mewni."

"Thanks, I guess."

"No problems. Now I should also mention that it can change into different weapons like spears, whips, axes, and bows. However, you need a little more practice with it to use it fully, but for now a knife and sword will have to suffice."

"Okay then, what now?"

"Well the place we need to be is quite a way from here, so we will need some transportation."

Upon hearing that Marco became all giddy as he knew that could only mean one thing. Pulling out her scissors again, she opened a full-sized portal this time and moments later a dragon-cycle flew past her straight into Marco's waiting arms"

"Nachos!" Marco called out to his dragon-cycle as she tackled Marco to the ground and proceeded to lick his face in excitement in seeing her rider. "Aw I missed you too, Boo-boo."

Seeing Marco and his dragon-cycle fawning over each other was a sight to behold. She found it to be a very touching moment, but they had already wasted too much time on their witty banter and needed to get moving.

"Okay that is enough you too, we need to get moving now. You can catch up with each other when we've finished with our business."

Agreeing with her, Marco pushed his dragon-cycle off him and then mounted Nachos. Hekapoo quickly followed suit as she jumped on behind Marco and wrapped her arms around Marco's abdomen.

"Make sure you hold on to my muscles tightly, they'll keep you safe."

"Just drive, Meat-Bag."

"Yes ma'am. Come on Nachos, let's ride!" With a might roar Nachos sped off in the general direction Hekapoo pointed towards.

As they were riding deeper into the dying forest Marco couldn't help shaking the feeling about the ball and hoped that Star would be fine without him there. Hekapoo seeing the distress in Marco's face tried to put his mind at ease with his inner turmoil.

"I know you're worried about Star and I can tell you this right now. She's a big girl with magical powers that can blast away a nearly invincible lizard-man in one powerful blast. She doesn't need a knight lording over her."

"I know," Marco responded in a very serious tone of voice. "She needs a friend."

Hekapoo couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. "She's both practically and literally surrounded by her friends and family, Marco," she pointed out. "But I'm not and I really do 'need' you right here and now to help me out, Marco. So, don't worry about Star, worry about me and yourself right now but you know… mostly me. And after all what can Star really do to mess up an officially sanctioned ball within her own kingdom?"

Marco smiled as he thought about it and Hekapoo was right, as she always was. In his own opinion, Star had grown up to be, not only more responsible but also able to think of her actions completely through before acting on them like she usually did when he first met her. Well, sometimes if she was lucky if he was being honest.

"I guess you're right H-poo."

"I always am and stop calling me H-poo you know I hate being called that," not noticing a small smile had crept on her lips followed by blushing just a little because of the little nickname.

"No, you don't, you love it when I'm calling you that. You even blush a little when I do."

"N…no I… it's just hot in this dimension, OK?!"

"Says the girl that has fire hovering above her head," Marco laughed at his own joke at Hekapoo's expense but was quickly silenced by a quick smack across the head. "OW!"

"How's that mark of Hekapoo treating you?"

"Touché H-poo, touché."

"You're just lucky I find you too cute to just burn to a crisp. Now shut up and focus on your driving."

"Yes ma'am."


	3. Ch 3 drop the Ballroom

Ch 3 drop the Ballroom

As Star was dancing with Tom on the ballroom floor, Star's perspective on the lack of tension of the room told her things were going extraordinarily well. Looking around the ballroom she saw no one arguing, complaining, threatening someone else's life or even being a party-pooper. Everyone was enjoying themselves as they danced or talked with each other. She even saw Princess Spiderbite dancing with the slime monster she had met before in the monster temple. Her cousin Rock Johansen was off in corner of the room talking to some of the other monster kids that were attending the party. She couldn't tell what they were talking about, but it looked like they were having fun.

So far everything she saw right now was all going according to plan. However, she couldn't stop but feel something was out of place. Like something was missing, but for the life of her she couldn't place her finger on it and that was really stressing her out big time as it stopped her from enjoying the ball.

However, this didn't go unnoticed by her boyfriend Tom. Ever since the ball had started, Tom had noticed Star was not really paying any attention to him when they were dancing. Instead, she had been very preoccupied with looking out for any signs of trouble that may be afoot. But these were very minor, as Star would just look off in some random direction to see how the guests interacted with each other. At first he was just fine with it as he knew that Star just really wanted things to go just right, but after a few hours of this continued behavior something was off with Star. That and Tom felt a little bit belittled with the small amount of attention he was getting from Star.

"Uh, Star are you okay?" Tom asked but got no response as Star was still in her own little world.

Now, this was very worrying to Tom so much, he stopped dancing in the middle of the ball floor and still Star didn't even notice this.

"Star are you there? Hello~"

"Yes, yes Tom you're… a very good dancer," Star finally responded to him, but she didn't even look him in the eye when she said it or into his face.

Star was still too busy looking side to side as if she was trying to find something or someone that was not there. Unable to take any more of this Tom cups Star's face gently and makes her look at him.

"Star. Are. You. Okay?" he slowly and very clearly said to Star to get her to pay attention to him for a moment.

This was the push Star needed for her to break out of her self-imposed trance.

"Yes Tom," she said take a deep breath. "I'm good now, thanks."

"Are you sure you're okay, Star? I know things have been very stressful for you and I just want you to know I'm here for you."

"Aw that's so sweet," Star pulled Tom in close as to give him a few kisses on his cheek. "But I am just fine, I think I just need to rest for a bit."

"That's nice to hear Star, come on let's go grab a drink maybe that'll help you clear your mind."

"Yeah, that does sound like something I really do need," Star agreed.

As they were making their way off the dance floor, Star couldn't help but look all over the room again for any signs of things that may go wrong. Luckily for Star, Tom snapped her out of it again before she could get all stressed and overworked again.

"Star," Tom called out her name as he snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Yes! I'm back, I'm back."

"Star I'm worried about you. You keep stressing out about this ball over every little thing and it's not healthy for you."

"I know that, but Tom this is really, like really, my last chance to make fix relations between Monsters and Mewmans. If one little thing goes wrong that's it, and everything I worked for will be for nothing!"

"Star, look around you everyone is having a good time. Mewmans and Monster are socializing and dancing with each other. There is nothing wrong going on, everything is fine and even if there was a problem you have your castle guards around to stop intruders, the Mewman Order of Knights with their squires and even if they all fail you have me." As to prove his point, Tom raised his hand and conjured a fireball to show off his power.

After hearing and seeing Tom's point Star feel her mind clear up a bit. Just enough to calm down a bit but not anywhere near enough to fully enjoy the ball with her boyfriend.

"You're right, Tom. I do really need to relax a little and start to actually start to enjoy the ball."

"That's the spirit Star, you and Marco spent a lot of time and effort getting the ball ready. You two really need to learn to enjoy the fruits of your labor."

"Yeah, Marco and I did put a lot of effort into getting all this setup. It is a shame if we didn't have some fun."

"That's good to hear. Speaking of which, I haven't seen Marco at all since the ball started, I wonder where he went off to."

"I don't know?" Star just got very worried as her eyes widened at the fact that she didn't notice Marco's absence for this long.

Tom, on the other hand, noticed that Star's usually bright and cheerful demeanor suddenly just crashed and burned! At the notion that Marco hasn't been seen in at the ball. He could already see her freaking out over this and he needed to defuse this situation before it went too far.

"I'm sure Marcos just around here somewhere…?" Tom tried thinking of an explanation to keep Star from exploding in a fit of panic. "He might just be uh…"

Tom paused as he was thinking of an excuse. 'Think Tom, think! What would Marco be doing? THE LIST!' Tom just vaguely remembered Marco going on about some list of things he had to do.

"I'm sure Marco's just making sure everything on the list he has is done."

"But he's already had everything on that list done, he told me himself before the party."

"Maybe he just wanted to… uh… double check on things. Hell maybe even triple check to… make sure they all go according to plan…?"

"That does sound like Marco," Star's worried face relaxed as a new smile shined through but only a small one.

"Totally right!" Tom was very much relieved that had worked for, but now he had another problem to deal with and that was to find Marco. "So I'm just going to… go get us some refreshments. Be right back before you know it."

Walking away quickly from Star, Tom needed to act quickly before Star got the idea in her head that Marco was missing and spoiled the ball she worked so hard for. As he slipped past the crowd and out of the ballroom, Tom's hands ignited in flame as he chanted a spell. When the last of the words left his lips, a crack in the floor opened up as a dozen skeletons rose from it.

"Alright, you boneheads listen up! I need you four to find Marco Ubaldo Diaz as fast as possible and bring him to the ballroom pronto," Tom ordered.

"What does he look like?" one of the skeletons asked.

"Oh right, silly me you guys don't know him. Here let me show you," with a click of his fingers a picture of Marco and Tom locking their arms around each other's neck as they were shown smiling.

The skeletons looked at the photo and all nodded and then drew their weapons ready to go find Marco and kill him to bring him to their master.

"Unharmed! You idiots!" Tom yelled at the skeletons as fire erupted from his eyes.

Thankfully Tom managed to stop himself from acting too rashly by destroying the skeletons outright. Instead, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled as he was now at this moment thinking of happy thoughts. When he opened his eyes, he saw all the skeletons had sheathed their weapons.

"You guys are so lucky! I don't have the time necessary to summon something more competent and have the luxury to let my unyielding hatred out upon you without causing a scene"

The skeletons didn't show even a hint of fear, but they knew he was being very serious about his threats and didn't want to push their luck.

"Just bring Marco to the ball, UNHARMED! I might add so that Star will not have to worry that her friend was kidnapped, hurt, or just plain wondered off somewhere alright?!"

All the skeletons nodded but one didn't instead he raised his hand up to ask a question. Seeing this Tom just rolled his eyes in annoyance as he didn't have time for this.

"Yes, what is it?"

"Haven't you considered that this Marco person could be in like real danger or something? I mean he could have been kidnapped and or is being held hostage somewhere or possibly dead in a ditch somewhere," the skeleton worrier said with a very concerned tone.

"You are overreacting, nothing bad has happened to Marco he's probably gone somewhere around the castle to do stuff that was on his stupid long list that he tried to make me help out with. That or maybe he left the party for one reason or another I don't know for sure. And if worse comes to worse and he was maybe kidnapped and is being held hostage, and that is a very maybe, he'll be fine on his own. He'll most likely talk himself out of it, no problem. I mean I should know, that's exactly what he did with me when I kidnapped him and attempted to kill him."

"Wait, what?" all the skeletons asked in shock all the while giving him strange looks with their bony faces.

"Oh, don't give me that look. That was a long time ago, okay," Tom defended himself. "Marco and I are cool now, hell I'd even say we're friends now so it all worked out for the better in the end."

The skeletons, however, begged to differ on that.

"We good now?" Tom didn't even wait for a reply. "Good, now get searching!" Tom yelled as the skeletons started their search for Marco around the castle. "Good. Now that's taken care of," Tom fixed his tie and hair to make himself look more presentable, "time to show my girlfriend the time of her life."

As the skeletons walked around the castle looking for Marco, one of them just decided to let his thought be heard by his kin.

"Is it just me or is anyone else feeling a tad bit under dressed for the occasion?"

"Oh, thank corn. I thought I was the only one," one skeleton agreed.

"I know right, I mean it wouldn't kill Tom to give us a heads up before summoning us so that we could put on some pants and a tie or something to cover us up with."

"Yeah, that is so true. But the one good thing about being a skeleton is that no one really notices or even cares that you're naked most of the time."

"Say's you," said another random skeleton. "Some of us still have some come decency left."

"Amen to that brother."

As Tom was making his way back to the ballroom he made sure to grab two glasses of wine from a passing waiter, thanking that the drinking age in Mewni was 15 instead of 21 like other dimensions, then proceeded to make his way back to Star. As Tom was reaching Star, he saw she was now surrounded by the many other princesses of the other dimensions that were invited to the ball.

From what Tom could tell Star was having a good time, which was to him was a good thing as she really did need this. She was chatting and laughing with the other princesses, all in all having a good time.

"No way that happened! Could it happen?" Ram Princess asked in disbelief.

"Oh~ trust me it happened, and it was hilarious," Star told the princesses around her and form her peripheral view saw Tom was returning with drinks in hand. "Oh, Tom! You're back. What took you so long?"

"Sorry about that Starship, had to take care of some things. As I too am royalty and thus have responsibilities as well" Tom dodged the question "But enough about me, what were you girls talking about? And before I forget" Tom raises one of the glasses of wine to Star "your refreshment my love"

"Thanks, Tom. I really needed this," she said taking the glass from Tom before taking a little sip. "Ah~ that's good. I was just talking about the Princess Turdina movie set and all of the things that happened behind the scenes."

"Oh cool, I love that movie. Wait a minute… movie set? Star, were you there during the filming of the movie?"

"Yep," Star grinned as she gave Tom his answer.

"So you've met Princess Turdina in person?"

"Yep," Star's grin grows wider.

"Could you like, introduce her to me? I'd like to get her autograph."

"You could get your chance later," Tom could hear the other princesses start to giggle at something.

"That's so cool, I'd love to get her autograph."

"Oh, I'm sure he, I mean 'she'd' love to give you an autograph later tonight if you're lucky."

"Thanks, Star! You're the best girlfriend a guy could ever as for..." Toms speech trailed off as he had just started to grasp what Star was saying to him. "Wait a minute… is Princess Turdina coming here!?... to this ball!?"

Star couldn't contain herself any longer as she burst into laughter as well as the other princesses at the fact that they all knew Princess Turdina was just Marco in a pink dress and with hair extensions.

As the laughter began to subside and Star gained control over herself she wiped a tear from her face and looked straight up at Tom "Yes, hehe yes 'she' is coming to this ball tonight. In fact, some would say she's already here"

Tom was about to freak out with the thought that a high-level celebrity whom he really admired was here at his girlfriend's ball. Luckily for his self-respect and pride as well as his public image, someone had beaten him to it.

"WHAT?!" a loud voice screamed out from the other side of the ballroom.

It was so loud that everyone in the ballroom stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on the commotion.

"Out of my way losers!" the very same person demanded as she pushed and shoved her way through the crowd towards Star.

As the final person had been pushed aside Star, Tom and the other princesses saw who was causing all the commotion and drawing all the attention of the guests.

"Higgs!?" the distant shout of Sir Stabby caught Star off guard.

"Star!" Higgs shouted as she rushed over to her, grabbing onto her shoulders and squishing tightly. "Is what you said true?!"

"Uh, what?"

"Is Princess Turdina coming to this party!?"

"Y-yes," Star really wasn't sure if she should have said that as right now she was not so sure how Higgs would take the fact that Marco was Princess Turdina as their history wasn't the greatest.

Getting her answer Higgs let go of Star as she started to breathe in and out in quick succession as well as fanning herself off with both her hands. To everyone that was watching it looked like Higgs was hyperventilating. Not long after this Baby Man and Old Guy came rushing out of the crowd along with Sir Stabby. Baby Man and Old Guy went right to Higgs' side to calm her down while for Sir Stabby he made his way to Star.

"I'm so sorry my lady for my squire's very poor behavior," Sir Stabby apologized. "You see, Higgs is a, really and do mean a really big fan of Princess Turdina. She has all the collectibles, merchandise there is to collect and even has a life-size cardboard cutout of her. So, I ask could you find it in your loving and understanding heart to forgive her," Sir Stabby pleaded a little too sincerely for Star's liking.

Star wasn't very sure how to respond to this, "That's alright. I mean who wouldn't get all-star struck when your ah~ Think your ideal may show up in front of you."

"I humbly thank you for your understanding, my princess."

"Don't mention it. Now everyone please continue to mingle and dance."

As the guest were about to do just that princess Pony Head came flying in from the dance floor to see what all the commotion was about, butting in between Star and Tom so that her bestie could give her the lowdown on the situation.

"Hey! Why is like no one paying any attention to me on the dance floor?" She looked over at Higgs "Hey Star, what's with this girl looking like she just had her lungs implode on her? Cause I think she's like dying."

"Oh, she's having a little panic attack right now because she's in the same place as her favorite celebrity."

"Me! Well I'm flattered," Pony Head gushed. "And yes, I'll pose for a photo, sign your face and stuff like that."

"No, no not you Pony Head. It's Princess Turdina," Star pulls Pony Head in close to her and started to whisper in her ear. "Higgs doesn't seem to know that Princess Turdina is really Marco in a dress."

"Oh! Well, that does make some sense. I mean he did have a very high grossing movie of all time that just came out and the fact that the only people that know Marco is Turdina are all princesses sort of helps a bit with that."

"You mean 'she' had a very high grossing movie," Star corrected Pony Head quietly, not wanting to cause a scene if Higgs manage to realize Turdina and Marco were the same person.

"Whatever Star… wait, that girl over is Higgs?"

"Ah, yes," Star answered but was puzzled by how Pony Head knew about Higgs.

"As in, the Higgs that tried to kill Marco at Quest buy?"

"She didn't really try to kill Marco."

"Star, she tricked Marco in picking up a can of dragon attractant instead of a can of dragon repellent. I mean, I'm not going lie or anything like that, because I'm a good person and such, but I found that to be very hilarious. But for reals girl, he could have been eaten or stepped on or sat on even."

"Wait, how do you even know about that?"

"Marco told me, as like he tells me everything that goes on in his boring and drab life."

"Now that's a complete lie if I've ever heard one. Marco would never tell you anything that you could use to make fun of him."

"Star! Don't you trust your best friend?" Pony Head asked giving Star her puppy eye treatment.

Star, on the other hand, didn't buy what Pony Head was saying for one second. As they've been besties forever Star could almost always tell when Pony Head was lying.

"Okay fine. I overheard Marco complaining to Kelly about it, there you happy now?"

"Very."

"Also FYI Star what I'm about to say is just between you and me," Pony Head looked over at Tom who was right next to her. "Uh do you mind? Me and B-fly are having a girl's only talk here."

Tom just casually smiled as he backed away "Okay, I'll just be over here waiting for you Starship."

Star smiled brightly and gave Tom a small wave "See you soon!"

"So, before I was so rudely interrupted," Pony Head quickly glares over to Tom before facing Star, "when I was eavesdropping on them, I notice that Kelly was rubbing up on Marco pretty hard if you catch my drift.

"What?" Star replied completely oblivious to what she meant.

"Girl~ don't you see, Kelly's trying to get with Marco."

"What?! No way. Kelly isn't trying to get with Marco. I mean if she was she would have told me, or I would have seen it happening."

"Oh Star, beautiful angel, you are too innocent for this world. It's either that or you're in denial girl. Ever since she broke up with Tad she's been pining after Marco. I mean they have been hanging out with each other a lot lately and Marco has not hung out with you as much."

"Pony Head, Marco can hang with whoever he wants to. Also, I've been hanging with Tom more as well, so it only makes sense that Marco would want to hang with Kelly if he wanted to."

Speaking of Kelly, she appeared out of nowhere right beside Star and Pony Head with Jorby by her side.

"Hey Star," Kelly greeted along with Jorby.

"AH! Kelly, hi, didn't see you there."

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Oh, don't worry about it. So how are you enjoying the ball so far?"

"It's great, but I was wondering if you've seen Marco around? I wanted to ask him if he…" Kelly was about to say she wanted to ask Marco to a dance instead she said, "still want to go sparing with me and Jorby."

Tom, overhearing that Kelly was looking for Marco, started to panic a little.

"See! Boom! Told you!"

"Ah? What is she talking about, Star?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it and no I haven't seen him."

Before the conversation could go any further, Tom intervened in-between them as to buy more time for his skeletons to find Marco.

"Don't worry Kelly, I'm sure Marco is around here somewhere."

"I'm not worried. I just thought since I couldn't find him anywhere here I thought that Star may have sent him somewhere to do something in another dimension or something."

"Hehe that's very funny Kelly," Tom nervously laughed. "Of course, Marco is here he's just not here, here."

"Tom, what are you talking about," Star asked.

"Yeah, what are you talking about, Tom? How could Marco not be here, here," Kelly added.

"Oh, you know he could be outside the ballroom area or he could be in his bedroom changing his tux. And just so you know, Marco and I were talking, and he said he wasn't really feeling the color of his tux and said he may want to swap it out for something better. Hell, he even may have maybe eaten something he shouldn't have had and his in the toilet" Tom constantly made some random excesses for Marco not being at the ball.

At this point, Star was beginning to worry about Tom as he was shaking and sweating profusely.

"He isn't anywhere here," Jorby added. "I can't smell him anywhere in the castle so that means he must have gone somewhere."

Hearing this Star looked intensely at Jorby with great concern. Tom was as of now screaming internally, if what Jorby said was true then his skeletons will not find Marco anytime soon. His belief that Marco had just gone somewhere and would return from wherever he's gone to, so Star won't freak out was a complete failure. His new plan was to buy some time for Marco to escape from where ever he was.

And if wherever he is anything like when he kidnapped him Marco will be back mostly unscathed by what he went through with him he thought, hoped, prayed, wished. All these thoughts raging in his mind all at the same time.

Able to somehow gain a grip on this thoughts Tom was about to speak and make up an excuse for why Jorby couldn't smell Marco, but sadly his skeletons had ruined any chance for him to salvage the situation by walking in right up beside him.

"Um, Master Tom, I'm sorry to say that we couldn't find Marco anywhere in or around the castle grounds. So, like he may have left or had been kidnapped or something along those lines"

"Tom, why did they tell you that Marco wasn't here?"

"Who told me what, Starship?" Tom quickly clicked his fingers and in a burst of flames, all the skeletons were burnt away leaving no trace that they were here.

"You knew Marco was missing?!" Kelly yelled at Tom accusingly.

"Tom, is this true?"

"Well, you see… no well… more like he was misplaced. Come on this is Marco we're talking about who would want to kidnap him. It's not like he can't defend himself."

"He has been kidnaped before Tom! And he was almost crushed to death in a glass cube!" Star exclaimed remembering the time that Toffee had nearly got Marco killed.

"Oh," Tom had no idea that had happen.

"Guards!" Star shouted as loud as she could in order to gain the attention of everyone again.

Not only did the guards come rushing to Star's side, but also the knights followed by Moon and River.

"Star, what's wrong?" Moon asked Star with concern on her face.

"Marco is missing, Mpm and I don't know where he is. Nobody does!"

"Are you sure Marco is missing, dear?"

Looking over to Tom Star narrowed her eyes at him "I'm sure"

"Star I…"

"Don't!" Star cut him off. "Don't you even think of speaking to me right now Tom, not after what you kept from me!"

Seeing the seriousness of the situation Moon needed to take control of this and quickly before Star made an unwise decision. As she was more driven by emotion rather by logic right now.

"Star, calm down. I'll deal with this," Star was about to argue but was stopped by her father.

"Star, your mother knows what she is doing," River assured.

"But Marco is my friend and squire, therefore he is my responsibility."

"I understand Star, but this requires some care and proper planning along with a keen sense of coordination," River consoled Star.

Looked back at Moon, Star saw her mom take charge like a true queen should.

"Guards, search the castle and report back to me if you find Marco or anything that might help us find out what happened to him but if you don't check again until you do or until you receive further orders." The guards nodded and went out looking for Marco. "Honorable knights, you will be charged with looking outside the confines of the castle to see if he may have been dragged outside." The knights nodded and went out to find Marco.

Star was in awe and admiration of her mother as if she was being in charge right now she might of. Oh, who was she kidding she would have just ran around frantically pointing at random directions for to look for Marco as well as blast all the doors down with her wand in the vain hopes of finding Marco.

"Well looks like I was missing quite the party, what did I miss?"

"Oh, Marco is missing and we're trying to find him, and Mom is… wait, Eclipsa?!"

"The one and the same, dear."

Hearing Eclipsa's name being shouted Moon turned to face her daughter to indeed find Eclipsa standing right next to her.

"Eclipsa! What are you doing outside of your tower, as of a matter of fact how did you get out of your tower? I had five of the best knights posted right out of your room?"

"Moon, my darling, I've been around the block a lot and to think that five little boys and girls could keep me locked up then think again," Eclipsa saw the worry in Moon's eyes as she said that. "Oh don't worry about the knights dear. They are completely fine. I just merely snuck out of my room without them noticing me. That is all I did I swear."

"Whatever I don't have time for this. I deal with you later but right now we have to find Marco and…"

"I could help with that if you let me," Eclipsa politely said.

"NO!" Moon imminently replied.

"But mum, if Eclipsa can help maybe we should-"

"No Star," Moon cut her off. "We should not. It's too risky to trust her."

"But she is family mom," Star argued.

"She abandoned her family Star," Moon countered.

"Don't I get a say in this little dissociation here?" Eclipsa asked with a raised hand.


	4. Ch 4 eye for adventure and a movie

Ch 4 Eye for Adventure and A Movie

"Look, I know that you don't really trust me Moon, but please understand I do not desire any harm to befall on you or Star's boyfriend."

"I'm her boyfriend!" Tom corrected clearly angry that he was not seen as Star's boyfriend.

"Oh, really? I didn't know sorry, dear," Eclipsa halfheartedly apologized.

"Ignore him Eclipsa," to Eclipsa this sounded more like an order than anything else. "He's not important right now. So Eclipsa, what's your plan?" Stare asked not caring that what her mom would say about it or how hurt Tom was feeling right now.

"Star, I don't think that's a very wise idea…"

"All in favor of having Eclipsa, Queen of Darkness, helping me find my squire Marco Diaz raise your hands."

As Star announce the voting Kelly was the very first person to raise her hand followed by Jorby then by all princesses and many others in the crowd. Star looked over at Tom and shot him a death glare causing him to stand up straight and raise his hand with the rest.

"Star, are we really doing this?" Moon asked but got no response from Star.

Instead, all she got was Star counting all the raise hands in the air silently numbering them as quickly as she could. Rolling her eyes Moon decided to play along with this and hoped for the best.

"Fine, then we do it your way. All in favor of not having Eclipsa 'Queen of Darkness' help find Marco," Moon emphasizing the queen of darkness bit.

The first to raise their hands in support of the queen was her ever loyal knights and guards followed next by the squires (Higgs among them) and some of the people in the crowd.

"1 2 3 4… it's a tie," Star called out. "Okay now, did anyone not vote?"

"Ahem I didn't," Pony Head called out, "Because you know, on the account of the fact I don't have any hands."

"So, Pony Head ya or nay? Come on girl, you're the tiebreaker here!"

"You know on any other day I would have voted in not finding the Earth turd. However, I do owe him for 'sort' of saving me from St O's and then inadvertently turning it into the most booming party place ever, so…" Pony Head paused in the air not doing anything. "Oh right, you may not be able to tell, but I am like raising my horn in the air in voting for finding Marco."

"Yes! I win! In your face, Mom!" Star gloated grabbing hold of Pony Head and Kelly before pulling them into a hug.

Moon scowled at Star for her not so graceful win. Kelly seeing this nudged at Star to gain her attention and pointed at Moon. Seeing the disappointing look her mother was giving her, all of Star's victory cheer left her immediately fizzled out.

"Sorry Mom," Star apologized.

Closing her eyes, Moon took a deep breath as she massaged her temples.

"It's fine Star. Just do whatever it is you and Eclipsa need to do to find Marco while I'll just try and keep the damage to a minimum."

"Mom, Eclipsa is not a bad person. She's not going to set fire to the castle by helping me find Marco."

"I was referring more to you, Star."

"Fair point. Okay, Eclipsa, what's your plan for helping me find my best friend slash squire?"

"Simple my dear when I was the one in the passion of the wand back in my day I made a spell made for just this occasion. It's called the All-Seeing Eye spell, it allows the user to see events happening in other areas and it pretty much can double as a tracking spell if you use it right."

Upon hearing this, Star's eyes widen in the realization of such a simple answer as to why she didn't think of this from the start she did not really know or really cared right now. But now that she thought about it, it might have been because of all the stress she's been going through lately. Moon, on the other hand, was more shocked than anything else.

"Star," Moon called out to her daughter. "You can't use that spell, that spell is part of the forbidden chapter and I forbid you from using it!"

"Oh, come on Mom, I've used that spell plenty of times."

"Whaaaaaaaat!?" Moon could not describe the shock she was feeling when Star told her that she had used a spell from the forbidden chapter, while also implying she had used it not once but multiple times.

"You know I hate to butt in on this lovely mother and daughter moment but really, are they still calling my chapter that?"

"How many times have you used spells from the forbidden chapter?"

"Ahhhhh~" Star hesitated in answering that question.

"Star!" Moon's voice became firmer as she pushed for a definitive answer.

"Excuse me, my question has yet to be answered," she got no response. "I'm now starting to feel like I'm being ignored here."

"A… few times," Star gave a vague answer as she herself didn't really remember how many times she did use those spells.

"Star! A few times is one too many. Using those spells can have very serious repercussions," Moon's voice seemingly having lost a bit of its strength as she rubbed her cursed marked arms.

"Yep, I'm very much being ignored here."

"Oh, come on Mom. Nothing really bad has ever happened when I used any of them, well nothing that bad… kind of," Star mumbled as she remembered the time she nearly hurt Marco and Jackie that one time.

"Oh look I'm escaping~ and later on~ I'm going to raise an army of darkness~ Evil villainess laugh mwaahaahaaa~" Eclipsa exclaimed in an overly dramatic and musical fashion.

"What happened Star?!" Moon asked Star, still ignoring Eclipsa's fake attempts to escape and plans to conquer Mewni.

"Nothing too big I could not handle. Besides, it happens during the fritz so a lot of things weren't working."

"That's the entire point, Star!" Moon screamed at Star. "With the fritz going on then, that spells could have done more damage than it would usually do," Moon specified.

"WILL ALL THREE OF YOU SHUT UP?!" Kelly shouted at the top of her lungs, obtaining the attention of all three of the royals.

Kelly stomped her way towards the Butterflies with a look of announce and frustration very visible on her face. All three of the royals stood there just waiting for something to happen to them as the closer Kelly got to them.

"Star, you should have already known that you had a way to find Marco, but you let that bit slip out of your head. Star, you are one of my closest friends so I'm not going to sugar coat it out of respect. You have wasted so much time because you are air-headed that's trying to be something that you're not."

Star felt as if her heart was just stabbed with a dull butter knife as one of her friends had just insulted her to her face. However, Star saw it was coming from a good place. This was just some constructive criticism from a friend to help her improve herself, she hoped.

Moon, on the other hand, saw the distress and pain emanating from her daughter and felt she needed to step in.

"Now see here I don't think you-"

"Oh, and don't get me started on you! You're the worst out of the three!"

Moon now had a confused look on her face as she didn't quite get how she was worse than Star or Eclipsa.

"How am I worse than them?"

"MOM!"

"Sorry Star but come on!"

"No one is perfect Moon, we all have our faults. Like I have some self-control issues when it comes to dark magic and chocolate."

'Did she just equate the use of dark magic and her chocolate cravings as the same level of fault' Moon wondered to herself in bewilderment.

"You have no faith in Star's ability to do things on her own, you constantly need to insert yourself in and do things your way. Because of you, we are now standing around arguing with each other on how to find Marco as well as giving Star a lecture on the use of dark magic. You don't trust her to do things by herself. She's fifteen years old, she can handle a little bit of forbidden magic."

"Well it looks like I'm still being ignored."

"And you, Eclipsa! Not everything is about you. Because right now it's about me, I mean Star," Kelly corrected herself, "finding Marco. You'll have all the attention you want when your trial has started."

'Did she just say it was about her finding Marco?' Star began to think but she just brushed it off a just a slip of the tongue. Or was it? A little nagging voice whispered in her head?

"Star!" Kelly called out to Star, snapping her out of her thoughts "Snap out of it!"

"Yes! Sorry, got a little lost in my mind space-thingy"

"Well Star, start paying attention now," Kelly instructed Star as she nodded in agreement. "As of right now, Eclipsa's idea on finding Marco is the easiest and fastest course of action we've got." Kelly explained to Star and anyone else that was listening to her.

Moon was about to object to this course of the plan but was beaten to the punch by Kelly.

"NO!" Kelly quickly spoke over Moon "We don't have the time for your complaint and as I said before have some faith in your daughter."

Closing her mouth Moon had reflected on Kelly's words on having a bit more faith in Star's abilities to handle this. But that did not mean she did take any precautions if things didn't pan out well as she was readying an array of counter and protective spells in her head, just in case.

"And you, Eclipsa" Kelly pointed out at her she reached into her hair and rummaged through it for a bit before she pulled out a family-sized candy bar and gave it to Eclipsa.

"Oh, why thank you dear," Eclipsa thanked Kelly, "but why though?"

Kelly just shrugged her shoulders "Just think of it as a thank you for tell Star, no that's not the right word, for 'reminding' Star of the fact she can use this 'All-Seeing Eye' spell thing."

Eclipsa's eyes became sadden at what she just heard Kelly said. "Don't be too hard on her dear," Eclipsa conveyed to Kelly as she then greedily devoured the candy bar. "Star is going through (nom nom nom) a tough time and she'll need good friends to keep her grounded."

As she was talking to Kelly bits and pieces of chocolate were being spat out with each word that came out of her mouth, some of which had landed on her dress.

"I think keeping her grounded is mostly Marco's job. Now that I think it, that really is his job with him being her squire," Kelly pointed out as she brushed off the chocolate that landed on her dress.

"Aren't you her friend?"

"I am, but Star sometimes needs someone that can really pull through on pointing out her mistakes so she can learn from them and not make them again especially with her going to be Queen someday."

"Ah, I see. Your heart's in the right place but please keep in mind that Star needs to see things through by herself. If you tell and point things out to her I'm afraid she might not listen or understand. I find it best to just let people figure it out on their own."

"Yeah, I already know that already about Star but right now is not the time for that with Marco missing."

"It never is the right time for anything dear, but if you insist on taking charge you better get back to it then."

Kelly merely gave Eclipsa a smile and a nod as she turned back to Star who was just standing still waiting for Kelly to give her the go ahead.

"Well Star, what are you waiting for? It's time to go find Marco!"

Star's eye lit up brightly as she pulled out her magical wand from her dress and got into position to cast the All-Seeing Eye spell. Before she could chant the spell Higgs had now recovered from her starstruck panic attack.

"What gives you the right to do that?!" Higgs yelled out towards Kelly.

"What?"

"What gave you the right to order around the royal family like that?"

"Well… I don't know really. I just felt that with all their arguing somebody needed to step up and take charge of the situation as they were wasting time. The time that could be better spent looking for Marco," Kelly reached into hair again and then proceeded to pull out her claymore and firmly planted it in the ground. "If you have a problem with that come at me."

Stepping up to Kelly's challenge, Higgs walked right up to Kelly's face and stared at her dead in the eyes.

"You're on, Shrub Girl!"

"OOOOOOOH! ~ Chick fight!"

"Pony Head!"

"What?! I just said what everyone was thinking."

"Shhhh," Jorby hushed Star and Pony Head, "I want to see how this goes down."

"Ah, shouldn't you be like backing her up or something?"

"What? No, Kelly is a strong worrier. She's not going to be taken out by a squire so easily not without a fight."

As the two continued to stare down at each other intensely it was Higgs that finally ended the stand off. Higgs jumped back away from Kelly, gaining some distance from her and then reached for a sword from her hip, only to find it was not there.

"Shite!" Higgs cursed at herself as she forgot to bring a weapon with her to the ball. "I knew I forget something!"

"What's wrong, did the brave young squire forget to bring her sword," Kelly teased.

Higgs was so enraged by that comment she could feel a blood vessel was about to pop in her head.

"Can anyone lend me their weapon!?" Higgs asked the crowd. "You there, Mewman guards, lend me one of your weapons. Spear, ax, mace doesn't matter I'll wipe the floor with her mop-like hair, but if I had to be honest a sword would be the most preferable."

The Mewman guards debated among themselves if they should do it until one of them noticed something and pointed it out to the others. Looking where he was pointing they saw the Queen shaking her head.

Taking this as an indirect order to stand down and not give the squire a weapon, the guards took a step back and declined to give her anything.

"AHHHHH! Are you serious? None of you will lend me your weapon?! Sir Stabby please lend me your weapon."

"Now Higgs this is unbecoming of an up and coming squire like yourself to just be accepting a challenge for no good reason."

'He's squire's name is Higgs, where have I heard that name before? It sounds vaguely familiar for some reason'

"But I have a good reason! She had just raised her voice at three, THREE, generations of the royal family. And not only that but she had the audacity to order them around like she owns the kingdom," Higgs explained pointing out her reasoning for accepting the challenge "There has to be a law about this somewhere, right?"

"There is one, actually," Star exclaimed, "but that only applies to Mewmans that raise their voices to unacceptable levels and rudeness. The punishment for which it one week in the stocks as the offending party is then flogged with rotten corn cobs or until the offender apologies for his or her acts of digression. Since Kelly isn't a Mewman that law does not technically apply to her."

"Girl where did that come from?" Pony Head asked in astonishment of Star's use of legal words and definition.

"Oh, well Marco has been helping me learn the Mewman court of law and stuff so that I could become a better queen."

"Now I remember you!" Kelly randomly yelled as she pointed at Higgs. "You were that squire Marco told me about."

"The nerd? What did he say about me?"

"Nothing much only that you tried to sabotage his day at Quest Buy."

"Just that, nothing else?"

"Yes, just that, because unlike some people Marco has a higher standard of etiquette than most. In fact, seeing you now, I still can't see why he had forgiven you for all you did to him. And what makes it worse was the fact that your reasoning, if what Marco tell me is true, it was all just for the simple reason of him just being squired by Star?"

"Can't you see why that's a problem in of itself? He never truly earned it. It was just given to him because he knew the princess. I, on the other hand, had to fight tooth and nail to get the 'privilege' of being a squire. And each and every day I still need to prove that it was not by some lucky chance I got to where I am. And what did he do? Nothing!"

"Nothing? What are you talking about nothing! Marco did earn his position of squire to Star. He fought monsters on a near daily basis with Star, survived Star's misuse of the wand on multiple occasions, sorry about saying that about you Star it's just that-" Kelly tried to apologize to Star but she just waved it off as if it was nothing.

"Oh no I get it, you're just trying to prove a point I understand. Keep going."

"Thanks," Kelly quickly thanked Star before continuing her rant ."And most of all he helped with the retaking of Mewni, hell he even punched Toffee through the heart with just his fist. In fact, I personally know if Marco was in your position he wouldn't be asking for a weapon, he would just take me on with his bare hands."

"And do what exactly? Use is sword hand dance on you," Higgs smugly sneered.

"HEY!" Jorby growled out aggressively "Do not and I mean do not underestimate the power of the sword hand dance, because like that stuff really hurts!"

"Really?" Higgs asked in a questioning way with a raised eyebrow. "That weakling's sword hand dance could hurt you? You know what, never mind," Higgs in her frustration brushed off her own question, "you're a lucky bush girl"

"The names Kelly."

"Like I care. I'm backing out for now but just so you remember, the next time you and I meet," Higgs brought her thump to her neck and then dragged it across in a threatening manner, "there will be blood."

"Don't worry I'll remember, but next Higgs try to remember to bring a weapon of your own next time, okay? You don't want a repeat of what just happen now do you, because I'd love to see you dead in a ditch."

Higgs really wanted nothing more than to run up to Kelly and beat her face in with her fists but knew that if she did try that. Kelly would more than likely decapitate her with that claymore she had with her and with no weapon or armor of her own right now her chances of winning were very low. Sucking up her pride she walked away, albeit begrudgingly, towards her knight's side with the other squires and their knights.

"Well I don't know about you, but I for one am very disappointed with this cat fight. I mean no one even threw a punch or swung a blade or anything."

"I know what you mean, however a blood feud has now been made and like the name suggests it will end in blood given time or a beautiful friendship. Personally I'm hoping for the blood."

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic all that was done was a few heat words and a death threat was exchanged. Nothing special at all. I myself deal with way more life-threatening moments with my sisters as they try to dethrone me like on a weekly basis."

"That's so cool."

"You'd think that but no it tends to get very boring and very tedious after like the tenth time in a week, not to mention terribly repetitive."

"Ah guys hate to break your lovely conversation but could you keep it down I really need to concentrate on this spell because if I don't some stuff may happen."

"That's good to hear Star," Kelly complemented as she placed her claymore back in her hair ready to go find Marco, "but what kind of stuff might happen are we talking about here?"

Star's mind went blank as she looked back on the times she used the All-Seeing Eye spell. The first time she used it she almost hurt Marco and Jackie when she had blown out one of the wheels on the skateboard. The second she tried to use it didn't really turn out as well as the first one was, well sort of. She couldn't at first find Glossaryck instead seeing a bunch of random people and even when she did the spell collapsed on her. The third time she used it actually turned out well and nothing bad had happened. Well, nothing that she didn't notice that it.

The fourth time this spell was used wasn't because of her but it was instead it was Marco who used it to find her until it exploded up in his face. But to give credit where credit was due she was impressed that Marco could use such a complicated spell that required a considerable amount of effort to use, especially for someone that's never used a magic wand in his life. Even though the spell did blow up Star had to admit to herself that Marco did far better than she did when she first got the wand. She set fire to an entire kingdom while Marco only destroyed a room.

"Oh, a little bit of this and that."

"That doesn't at all answer my question. In fact, I'm more concerned now then I was before."

"Look do you want me to find Marco or answer your question because I can't do both at the same time?"

"…"

"That's what I thought. Now step back I'm going to need some space here to pull off the spell"

Doing as she was told Kelly did take a step back giving Star the space she needed to cast the spell.

"I meant you 'all' need to step back," Star clarified as there was a sizable crowd that had formed around her.

Hearing this many of the guests that were in the ballroom did more than just take a step back they all ran behind cover, as they all still remembered the time Star set the entire kingdom on fire and didn't want to take chances with their lives. The only people that didn't take cover were Kelly as she believed that Star wouldn't mess up because of what was on the line. Beside her, Higgs ran up to her side showing that she too wasn't afraid of Star's use of dark magic as to not allow Kelly the satisfaction of beating her in any shape or form, whether Kelly acknowledged it that way or not.

Tom didn't as well because he needed to be seen being supportive, that and he was a very high-ranking demon so pretty much he could take a lot more punishment then the regular mortal could take so he wasn't afraid of getting blasted.

Moon herself was fully prepared to intervene if the spell went astray and did something it wasn't supposed to do. In fact, she was the only one that stepped towards Star, but didn't get as far as she would have liked as she had felt something tug at her dress. Looking at who had tugged at her dress and saw Eclipsa holding the hem of her dress stopping her from getting any closer.

"Like that sweet green haired girl said, have some faith in your daughter."

Moon looked conflicted in what she does. On one hand, Eclipsa was right in saying she should have more faith in Star, but on the other hand she was her mother and she couldn't help but worry for the safety of her daughter.

"I know that look on your face," Eclipsa pointed at her face. "It's the look of a mother that worries about the well-being of their child."

"Of course, I'm worried sick about her safety, she's using dark magic. Who knows what will happen to her when she uses it."

"Well, no need to brag but I do. After all, I'm the one who made the spell in the first place and it may be a lot to ask of you but trust me when I say nothing bad will happen to Star when she uses The All-Seeing Eye."

Moon seemed to relax a bit finally taking the advice given to her by Kelly and Eclipsa in letting Star do her own thing.

"Well nothing bad will happen on our side but depending on what we see on the other side of the eye now that's debatable."

"Wait, what was that last bit?!"

"Oh, nothing forget I said anything it hardly matters now," Eclipsa then points towards Star. "Look she's beginning the spell already."

"I summon The All-Seeing Eye to tear a hole into the sky revel to me that which is hidden unveil to me what is forbidden."

With the last verse of the spell cast, Star's wand unveiled an evil glowing eye. As it opened fully, it projected a screen showing Star what she most desired to see and what she saw was an all too familiar sight.

"Abs~" Star cooed as she saw the fully-grown version of Marco riding his dragon-cycle.

"WOW! Star who is that hottie? Because I like me some of that beefcake," Pony Head hollered as she saw the older version of Marco riding on his dragon cycle not knowing it was Marco. "And FYI I'd totally let him ride me, because when he does he ain't ever going to ride anything else."


	5. Ch 5 explanation needed

**Sorry, this chapter was such a long wait in the making but what could I do. I was also working on my other stories so look out for them. Also, I got myself a new beta reader to check my stories (kind of) because god only knows why I suck at proofreading my own work for some strange reason. also the other chapters were updated as well so go and check them out as well.**

 **So, I hope the wait was worth it. Don't forget to follow or fav and leave a review and tell me what you think.**

Ch 5 explanation needed

"So, B-fly spill it, who is this hunk and where can I get his number because he and I are going to be spending some quality time together."

Star didn't say anything to Pony Head as she just gave her a weird look at what she just said was something unacceptable to say in front of a large crowd.

"Oh, don't give me that look. You were having the same thoughts I was having."

"What! Me? No, I wasn't, I swear I didn't… have such thoughts," Star lied to her friend which didn't go unnoticed by her.

"Wow chill girl. You're acting like that checking out hot guys is like a crime or something and besides, we weren't the only ones having such thoughts."

Curious as to what Pony Head was saying Star turned around to see how people were reacting to seeing the older version of Marco. It really did pain Star to admit this, but Pony Head was right about them not being the only ones that were having such inappropriate thoughts about the older version of Marco. With just looking at their faces Star could tell what they were all thinking, and it sickened her to her core. But then again, she couldn't really blame them for having such thoughts about her squire because in her moment of weakness she too was just like them the first time she saw Marco like this.

The worst group that was affected by the sight of perfectly toned abs were the other princesses that were attending the ball. Ram Princess took it the worst as she got a bloody nose and passed out on the floor from the sheer masculinity and sex appeal she was witnessing.

"I-I can't… anymore… Baaa~"

Arm Princess wasn't fairing much better as she was drooling like a waterfall while she was chewing on one of her upper right-hand thumbnails. While her upper left hand had grabbed her left breast, while her bottom right hand and bottom left hand hovered over her crotch.

"Well hello, there sexy."

The group of monster girls was just as bad as the princesses as they as well stared deeply into the image of Marco. Some of the men in the ballroom were drooling over Marco. Her own mother and Eclipsa had slight blushes on their faces when they saw Marco. Hell, even her dad gave Marco a once look over.

"Now that's the body of a warrior! I had one when I wrestled with bears, fought in world-shattering battles, and ran 10 miles in 4 minutes. Oh, how I miss those days."

Star looked around some more and saw Higgs blushing just as red as her hair was with daydreaming eyes glossing all over Marco's hot body like a complete lovesick predator.

"We'd make such strong babies together."

It wasn't just the girls that were looking wide eyed at Marco but also the boys and men. Some of them had a look of longing while others had a more inferiority complex when they saw what looked like the pinnacle of man. Among those boys that felt inferior was of course Tom, as he didn't really know where he stood in his relationship with Star right now.

'Oh, god! Why is there an image of a muscle-bound guy on a dragon-cycle being shown? Is Star into guys with muscles now? I could get buff if I tried, it's in my genes after all. I mean my mom's pretty buff so it only makes sense I will be buff to soon, right?'

The only person Star could find that wasn't practically gushing over Marco's older form was Kelly. She instead looked more conflicted with the mixture of wanting to fawn over Marco and not wanting to fawn over Marco. Her eyes were wide open as a bit of drool escaped her lips, but she was quick to wipe it away. She tried to look away, but Marco's hot body was just too good not to look at for long when she knew it was there.

'No Kelly, no don't keep looking. You don't like him, you don't even know anything about him. He could just be some muscle-bound jerk, a hot muscle-bound jerk with a wicked dragon-cycle and a chiseled jawline. NO! Get those thoughts out of your head, you need to find Marco not look at some guy that's probably double your age!'

"Star!" Kelly called out to Star in a shrill and meek voice still completely flustered as she didn't even bother to look at Star, instead continued to look at the older version of Marco.

"We need to find Marco, not some random hunk with muscles riding a dragon-cycle."

Star was going to respond to Kelly and tell her that this random hunk with muscles and a dragon-cycle was Marco, just an older version of Marco, but Pony Head came to her defense quicker then she should respond. "Kelly girl, that is like so rude that you like say something like that to Star. And what makes it worse is that you're not even looking at her when you're talking to her, now that's hella disrespectful! Show some class, girl!"

Kelly turned her head towards Pony Head as she was about to give her a well-deserved tongue lashing only to see the back of her head. Pony Head's eyes were just staring deeply into the All-Seeing Eye spell as if her eyes were glued to the vision of the perfect set of abs.

"You hypocrite!" Kelly yelled out in frustration to Pony Head. "You're not even looking at her when you're talking to me!"

"What! Can you really blame me though? I mean this guy has obviously put a lot of hard work building up those muscles and it would be bad for me not to look at them," Pony Head argued.

"That makes no sense! You said!... But you!... AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kelly screamed out in frustration but was able to restrain herself from just pulling out her claymore again and take a swing at her. "You know what, keep looking, I no longer care about this!"

"I'm sorry what, you say something?" Pony Head asked Kelly as she was still staring deep into the All-Seeing Eye causing Kelly's eye to twitch in annoyance.

"Star," Kelly called out to her friend in a sweet-sounding voice but an undertone of malice could be felt upon hearing every word that came from her mouth. "I think you need to try that spell again, because this is clearly not Marco."

"I'll say," Pony Head added.

Most of the crowd of onlookers ripped they faces away from the All-Seeing Eye and looked towards Star to see what she would do. Placing Star on the spot with each pair of eyes only serving only to make her anxious.

"Well, the thing is hehe," Star nervously laughed while she also rubbed the back of her head with her wand as she was thinking of the right words on how to explain this to them.

"That is Marco," Star simply blurted out nervously.

All eyes widen at the news that the man that they were seeing was Marco. Many did look back at the All-Seeing Eye and saw the similarities that they missed on the first glance. The mole that was under his eye, the hairstyle, eye color and skin tone were the same as Marco's.

There was one person however that didn't get the proper message as Star intended it to mean.

"Hm, no wonder your spell had shown this guy instead of Marco. They share the same first name, now that's funny."

"Uhm no, Pony Head… that is Marco Diaz."

"Wow what a small universe we live in, he even has the same last name as the Earth Turd. You think they're related or something? Because I hope not."

"Pony Head!"

"Yeah girl, what you need?"

"Listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth."

"Yeah B-fly, I'm all ears."

"Look at me as well."

"Sorry, can't do that. Still picturing myself rubbing against those big shiny abs, but go on with whatever you were saying I'll listen, mostly. Kind of. Sort of."

"Okay fine whatever. You see that person in the All-Seeing Eye?"

"Who couldn't see him?"

"That is Marco Diaz."

"Ah, Star I know that already."

"As in my friend."

"What?! You were friends with a hunk like him and you didn't tell me about it?! That's cold Star, real cold and here I thought we were friends!"

"No, he is the Marco Diaz! I lived with him for almost a year, give or take a few months!"

"Wow, when did that happen? Also, I think Tom may be a little jealous of that fact because I know I am."

"I am now," Tom called out from behind.

"No! He is my squire, Marco Diaz!"

"Star, don't you think this guy is a little bit overqualified to be squiring for you? I know you handed that out to the Earth Turd, but this guy looks like he is already a full-fledged knight. Oh, I just got an idea. Hey, Star can you lend me this Marco Diaz, so he can squire for me. So, I can like make him do stuff for me. Oh, and just to clarify I mean the Marco Diaz with the abs, not the Earth Turd with the flabs."

"Pony head! First off, Marco doesn't have any flabs and you know that! Secondly, that is the "Earth Turd" of Earth! Marco Diaz! They are the same godforsaken person!"

"Wait, you telling me that this guy that I am looking at through the All-Seeing Eye is Marco?"

"Finally," Star breathed out in relief not knowing how much more of this she could take. "Yes, that is Marco, he's just a bit older, 15 years older to be exact. Now then he was… like… an hour since the last time I saw him I guess…"

"Star, how did this happen," Kelly asked now for some reason now looked deeply into the eye, no longer resisting the urge to look at Marco's hot body.

"Talk about rude," Pony Head sneered at Kelly. "But yeah how did this happen?"

"Uh long story."

"Oh B-fly, you better tell me how that Earth Turd got so hot, because things were said and thought of that I can't take back!"

"Okay chill Pony, I'll tell just calm down a bit."

Taking a deep breath and then exhaling Pony Head started speaking again, "Okay I'm good, now tell."

"Well, you remember that time I called you about that red portal I found in Marco's bedroom and then you told me that portal belonged to Hekapoo."

"Yeah, I remember that what of it?"

"Well from what Marco told me Hekapoo thought he stole her scissors, but Marco said he wasn't going to leave without those scissors so Hekapoo told Marco if he wanted them he'd have to earn them"

"Oh~ he had to do the Trial of Scissors."

"The trial of what now?" Star asked not knowing what Pony Head was talking about.

"Star the Trial of Scissors is a well, a great test to see if you are both worthy and responsible enough to wield a pair of dimensional scissors. There are some tests that may take an individual either days, weeks, months, years or even lifetimes. It really does depend on her mood at the time when she gives you it."

"Yeah what your mom said," Pony head confirmed Moon's explanation. "Now spill it, what was the test that she made Marco do?"

"Oh, well from what Marco told me he had to hunt down some of Hekapoo's clones." Star looked over her mother and friends and saw everyone else frozen with all their mouths wide open. "Uh, is there something wrong with what I said?"

"Star, the trial you just described is one of the most-"

"Dangerous trials Hekapoo can send you upon!" River finished his wife explanation with great surprise in his voice.

"River!"

"Sorry dear."

Taking a deep breath, Moon calmed herself before speaking again to her daughter. The sudden revile of the fact that Marco had passed one of Hekapoo's Trial of Scissors. But from what little detail Star gave to her was more than enough information to deduce what kind of trial it was.

"Star, it is as you father bluntly put it. That trial you just described is called, 'The Chase' and it is very much considered the hardest and most dangerous ones she can ever give to any individual or group. In fact, many people just up and quit the trial when she gives them it."

"Mom, don't be ridiculous. It couldn't be that dangerous," Star brushed off her mother's explanation. "I mean Marco came out of it alright. In fact, I'd even say he came out of it even better."

"Yeah, he did," Kelly silently whispered to herself with only Jorby able to hear what she just said.

"Keep it in your pants, Kelly," Jorby whispered back at Kelly who only responded with a slight nod.

"Star, do you know how many people have ever passed the trial of 'The Chase' in all of the thousands of years Hekapoo has had people do it? Go on, take a guess."

"I don't know? But if I had to guess like a 100 or something along those lines maybe."

"Five. The answer is five, Star. And that also now includes Marco for the grand total six people that can say they passed that trial."

"Oh~ that's just… unexpected."

"Actually, Star it's quite the quandary, it's to be expected."

"Wait, what?"

"What your mother is trying to say, Star, is that Hekapoo only sends people on 'The Chase' is when she doesn't want people them earning a pair of scissors."

"Oh, that does make some sense. After all, she did think Marco stole her scissors."

"Good, now that we've got that out of the way," River cheered as he pulled his daughter close to him "Tell me Star, how many clones did Marco have to hunt down? I'm guessing he at least had to hunt down seven of Hekapoo's clones to get that buff."

"River, don't be ridiculous," Moon chimed in. "It would have obviously been the minimum of three. After all Marco was only fifteen then when the trial most likely started."

"Oh, oh are we taking bets on this?" Pony Head asked Moon and River. "Because if we are I bet $500 she would have gone all out on Marco with at least ten clones, because come on Hekapoo was definitely very angry when she found her pair of stolen scissors that I totally did not steal. Anyone else in? Because I'm taking all bets here."

Many raised their hands up while they waved their money in the air as they shouted out random numbers of clones Marco had to hunt down and the amount of money they were betting. As the crowd were calling out numbers while Pony Head was flying around and taking bets with a pen and paper floating near her. Star noticed the number of clones that Marco had to face never went over twelve clones.

As the last bet was placed Pony Head flew over to Star's side with a large smile on her face.

"Okay Star so tell us, how many clones did Hekapoo make that Earth Turd hunt down. Also, just to let you know, we have nobody betting on one clone, three people for three clones including one from your mother."

"I've never placed any bets!"

"Oh, sorry my bad." Pony Head apologized. "So okay new numbers, we've got zero on 1, two for three clones. A somewhat decent amount of twelve people betting on 4 clones, but don't worry Star it only gets bigger from here. With twenty people on 5 with only a slight decrease of eighteen people thinking Marco took on 6, but that's the only fall from here on out girl."

"We have a three-way tie of twenty-seven people on 7, 8, and 9, what are the odds of that. A two-way tie with thirty believing Marco could take 10-11 Hekapoo clones. But seeing him now," Pony Head paused her ever insistent ranting as she gazed off into the All-Seeing Eye. "I guess seeing now… I guess he could totally~…" Pony Head just trailed off as she was now lost in the eye just staring at Marco's abs.

Seeing this Star just rolled her eyes in frustration at Pony Head's predicament but understood it very well. Raising her hand right next to her ear she then snapped her fingers loudly to break her trance.

"Pony Head, you there?"

"What? Yes, I'm here. Where was I again?"

"Eh, 12."

"Oh, right, right, right. And finally, we have thirty-two on 12 and that's… what a minute. There's one more."

"One more?"

"Yeah, but I must have written it down by mistake or it may have just been a typo that I forgot about it or something."

"Why is that?"

"Because I wrote down one person that bet on Marco having beaten one thousand Hekapoo clones."

"Oh, no dearie that wasn't a mistake," Eclipsa called out. "That was me."

"Eclipsa! You bet on Marco beating one thousand Hekapoo clones," the confused look Pony Head had given Eclipsa the impression that she had never known Hekapoo to do such a thing.

"Why yes, I did."

"But one thousand? Seriously?"

"I know that may be excessive if you think about it, but I've known Hekapoo," Eclipsa paused to think about the time she knew of her. "Well, I've known of her for a bit of over three hundred years and I've even fought with and against her one time and another. So, I can speak for myself, she would make Marco fight one thousand."

"Okay, whatever I don't care about any number of clones you are betting for. All I care about now is whether or not you can pay if you lose your bet. And no offense, but I don't think you can pay anything given the situation you're in."

Eclipsa smiled as she reached into her blouse and pulled out a small sack of gold coins and showed it off to Pony Head.

"Will this do?"

"Yes, that will do very nicely." After Pony head confirmed that Eclipsa could pay her betting fee she turned towards back over to Star. "So, girl how many did the Earth Turd beat?" Pony waited for a few seconds, but Star wasn't answering her. "Ah Star, did Marco even tell you how many clones he defeated or something?"

"Well, sort of? He didn't outright tell me the exact number. He just pulled out a small notebook from his pocket with all of these flames crossed out."

"Yeah, that does sound like the Earth Turd to make a checklist in order to keep score," Pony Head amused to herself aloud. "So how many were there in his little notebook?"

"A lot. Like a lot, lot. As in like every single page was filled in flames crossed out. There had had to be like near or over a thousand in there."

Everyone in the room had their mouths hanging open at the news that Marco had defeated one thousand Hekapoo clones in only fifteen years. The only other people in the room that didn't have their mouths wide open were Star and Eclipsa. The latter of which was smiling triumphantly as she clapped her hands together.

"So, does this mean I've won? I know Star only gave a vague answer to the exact number, but my bet was far closer to her estimate then anyone else's, give or take a few dozen clones."

Pony Head didn't even bother trying to argue about the bet she had just lost and gave Eclipsa her winnings. Far too many things were happening in a very short amount of time. And that was saying something, coming from her as she mostly fed off drama. But this was far too much, even for her.

First off, she finds out the smoking hot guy she was drooling over turned out to be Marco. Second, she finds out that Marco wasn't a week little turd that she thought he was. Third, she lost quite a bit of money to Eclipsa. Finally, Marco gets hotter when he gets older. When this day was over she was going to bash her head against something very hard, repeatedly until she no longer saw Marco's older form being, in her own mind and thoughts, a fine piece of ass.

When Pony Head gave Eclipsa her winnings of gold, gems, rare metals and other assorted valuables. She dug her hand into the sack then grabbed a single random gold coin and bit into it to see if it was genuine, and it was.

"I'm so going to pig out later on some sweets and treats," Eclipsa then made her way to the exit to head back to her room.

But before she did that she did stop by near Kelly first and then dipped her hand deep into her sack of winnings. Pulling out a fistful of gold and jewels and handing them to her.

"What is this for?"

"It's me saying thank you, silly," Eclipsa smiled at Kelly as if she was just the cutest thing in the world. "You did give me a chocolate bar, and this is me paying you back. After all, let it not be said I don't pay people back for their generosity."

"I don't know," Kelly said unsure if she should take the gold and jewels from the Queen of Darkness.

"Oh, for crying out loud, not this thing again. Just take the gold," Rich Pigeon screamed from the sidelines.

Shrugging her shoulders Kelly pocked the gold and jewels into her dress and thanked Eclipsa.

"Thanks, Eclipsa."

"Think nothing of it, really don't. Just have fun for the rest of the night."

"Will do."

As they both smiled Eclipsa made her way towards the ballroom exit as many people glared at her. Mostly because they all lost a good deal of money to her. Moon pulled a guard close to her and whispered into his ear.

"Make sure she goes to her room and double the guard posted in the front and the back of her room. Also get those dragon chains again, just to be sure," Moon ordered.

"I'm right on it, my queen," the guard gave a quick bow and followed after Eclipsa.

When Eclipsa reached the exit, she stopped and waited for the guard to catch up with her and looked at him with a sweet smile.

"Oh, hello there," Eclipsa greeted the guard. "You wouldn't mind holding this now would you? It's quite heavy and I'm not quite the beefcake like Marco is over there." Eclipsa asked the guard but didn't wait for him to give her his answer. "Thanks sweetie. Oh, and Star darling, I think I need to tell you something before I go."

"Yeah, Eclipsa."

"I would just like to point out something that I think no one's noticed this but me… all right I'll admit everyone got distracted from his abs, but is it just me or do those arms wrapped around Marco looks like Hekapoo's arms?"

"What!?" Star called out in surprise and looked back at the All-Seeing Eye to indeed see a pair of small white arms wrapped around under Marco's abs.

Using her magic Star was able to adjust the view of what the eye was seeing. Lo and behold as the eye screen was moving its position to the side, there she was in all her slender. Hekapoo, master of scissors, riding atop the dragon-cycle while holding onto an older and hotter Marco with a sly grin on her face.

"What is going on here?"

It was just then, did Princess Ram wake up from the floor with a slight daze as she rubbed her head when she looked up to see the All-Seeing Eye again and saw Marco and Hekapoo riding dragon-cycle together.

"Did I miss anything important?" Princess Ram asked out aloud hoping some random person would answer her.

Thankfully it was Arm Princess who helped her up and gave her an answer to her question.

"Turns out that hot ruggedly handsome guy with the abs was just an older version of Marco. Not that it made him any less hot in my opinion."

"Wait, you mean as in Princess Turdina Marco?"

"Yes."

With her question answered Princess Ram's mind was now flooded with more naughty thoughts about Marco's Princess Turdina persona and his new older buff form. On one hand, you had a feminine icon that looked stunningly sexy in a ruffle pink bikini one-piece swimsuit (as seen in the Princess Turdina the movie) which just made her want to take him then and there and toy with him as she pleased.

Or on the other hand, there was his older, more ruggedly masculine persona that just made her feel weak in the knees thinking about how he would take her any way he wanted. And she would let him do as he pleased no matter what he did. She'd not only love it, but you would want more of it.

All those naughty thoughts were just too much for her mind to take in so suddenly and without warning her nose started to bleed and pass out on the floor again.


	6. Ch 6 Fire fight of will

**Important note.**

 **There maybe not be an update next month or the month after that for not only this story but my other stories because I've got stuff to do (mostly playing video games and work stuff) and I don't know when it'll be done. Life, what can I say. But I'll be back for a charismas special, I hope.**

Ch 6 Firefight of Will

After some time of riding Marco's dragon-cycle Nachos for what seemed to go on for forty-five minutes, Marco was starting to wonder how much longer they'd have to ride and decided to speak up.

"So, H-poo how much further to where we need to go?" Marco asked Hekapoo to only be answered with a hard slap in the back of the head.

"It's Hekapoo," She corrected. "Stop here, we'll have to walk the rest of the way there if we want to get the jump on him."

"Sounds like a plan," Marco agreed as he now looked for a place to pull over. "Pullover here, girl."

Doing as she was ordered, Nachos pulled over at a fallen tree stump and then powered down her engines as Marco and Hekapoo got off. With her riders now off of her, she felt her master Marco rub under her chin like he always did after a long ride. As Marco was rubbing her chin, he managed to find her sweet spot as she started to give out a deep, low-pitch purr.

"Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? Yes you are, yes you are."

As Hekapoo looked over to Marco acting like a total goofball speaking in a funny voice as he was petting Nachos like a child, she couldn't help but look at this with a warm smile as she herself felt a warmth in her heart.

"How come you never treat me that nicely, Marco?" Hekapoo teased.

Marco just looked at her and gave her a funny look and then looked back to Nachos who just tilted her head in confusion. Not really knowing what to say, he just did what he was asked and started to rub her under her cheek and chin. While rubbing her cheek and he couldn't help but notice how soft and smooth she was.

Hekapoo, on the other hand, didn't actually think Marco would rub her cheek and chin like he did with Nachos as it was just a light joke and they were on an important mission after all. The worst part of this was she was genuinely like it immensely. So much so she was practically lost in bliss. Lost in the feeling of paradise she was in, she failed to notice she was purring as well. Just a little, but that didn't go unnoticed by Marco.

She just couldn't believe that Marco's large and rough hands could be so gentle and caring in such a pleasurable way.

'How can this feel so good? Is it because he doesn't have claws like me,' she thought to herself trying to figure out Marco's secret.

"Uh, shouldn't we be beating up a warlord or something?"

"Ah, yes!" Hekapoo answered as she swatted his hand away. "Let's get moving."

"Yes ma'am."

"Also, just so you know I didn't really mean for you to rub my chin. What I said before was supposed to be a joke."

"Didn't stop you from enjoying it though," Marco teased.

If looks could kill Hekapoo would have had ended him right on the spot with the one-eyed death glare she was giving him.

"You know I'll get you back for that, right?"

"What, you going to scratch my chin?"

"You know what, why not?" Hekapoo agreed as she flashed Marco her razor-sharp claws at him. "Still want me to scratch your chin?"

"No thanks, ma'am."

"Good, now get moving meat bag. We need to stop that warlord from becoming some sort of self-proclaim god creator or something like that."

"Okay," Marco agreed as he followed just behind Hekapoo through the dying forest. "So is there anything I should know about this warlord before we start fighting him?"

"Yeah, his name is Kai and is a recently disgraced former knight of the Shade Lizards from the lizard dimension."

"Wait, didn't you say you needed help stopping a warlord, not a 'recently' disgraced former knight?"

"Marco, most warlords are all mostly disgraced former knights and it's pretty much a cliche right now, like nine out of ten times. And with the way he's going, he's just two or three burnt down villages and a recruitment drive from being a full-blown warlord."

"Okay then, anything else you can tell me?"

"Well, he kind of looks like Toffee but unlike him, he doesn't look a lawyer. He wears heavily plated armor, but don't think that would even slow him down in the slightest. I've already made that mistake once."

"You've already fought him?"

"Sort of. I just sent a bunch of my clones, like ten of them to deal with him. I heard through the grapevine that Kai was kicked out of the Shade Lizards for un-knightly behavior from taking bribes to doing various kinds of drugs. So as you could guess he took this as a grave insult. I also heard from his former brothers and sisters in arms say that Kai was a pretty bog-standard warrior of his kind if a little bit weaker than average. So nothing very special at all so I thought sending a few clones to deal with him while I do other more important things would solve the problem."

"Let me guess. The clones you sent were all defeated the moment they engaged him in battle and lost easily to him. So whatever he is doing here is making him stronger as the forest dies?"

"Pretty much. You see in the center of this forest there is a rock fountain that's steeped in magic that gave life to the very first trees here. He must have found a way to harness the power of the fountain to imbue him with its power. I'd take him on by myself, but with all the magical power he's absorbing I don't really know how powerful he has become, that and he can use magic now."

"What kind of magic are we talking about here?"

"Just the basic stuffy really since he has no formal training. He can do spells like fireball which doesn't have any effect on me, Levitato and a few others, but don't be fooled just because he can only do basic spells. Those spells are supercharged from the magic of the rock fountain so lookout," Hekapoo warned Marco as he nodded.

"Any weaknesses you know of or anything more I should know about in order to fight him?"

"His species does have a regeneration factor, but nothing like Toffee's. Don't expect him to be re-growing an arm or a tail. Don't get me wrong he can, but that takes time. He does have a weakness to fire as it stops him from healing himself mid-battle, hence the fire knife I gave you."

"Thanks by the way."

"No worries. Also, as I said before he's stronger and faster than he was before but his movements are very basic and predictable if you know what you're doing."

"So too much power, not enough control."

"Yep, but that's beside the point. You see the fountain is in the middle of a small lake and his species of lizards are just as at home in the water as they are on land, but don't worry about that. Because of all that heavy armor, he wears he can't swim in the water as he would just sink to the bottom."

"So what's the plan of attack here?"

"Well with me and you we could take him on head-on barring from the fact he hasn't gotten stronger since my clones faced him. We should be able to take him on just fine if we work together on it."

"And if he's gotten stronger, what then?"

"If that's the case, you and I along with some of my clones will distract him as one of my clones sneaks around him to the other side of the fountain. There should be a talisman or some magical do-da that siphoning the power in the fountain and either remove or destroy it. And with that, he will revert back to his normal power level and then we kick him while he's down, simple."

"Sounds good to me."

"Really? You don't look so sure to me."

"Oh, what? It's nothing really it's just I've got this feeling something's watching us."

"Well now that you say it, I can feel it too."

…

Back in the Butterfly castle where the ball now changed into a movie theater. With the help of magic, Star was able to increase the size of the eye as well as summon seats for every guest that wanted to watch Marco and Hekapoo's adventure, which everyone there was more than eager to do.

With everything set up, the ballroom looked more like a cinema than anything else with how things looked. The only thing out of place was that everyone that was here was overly dressed for the occasion with the now seated guest messily stuffing their faces with popcorn as they slurped down their drinks.

So far everyone was under the agreement that watching an older Marco flexing his muscles as he and Hekapoo stopped some bad guy from doing some evil shenanigans was more fun than dancing. Everything was going just fine as everyone was all enjoying the live-action thriller that had some nice witty banter here and there so far but there was this feeling Star was having that she couldn't quit pin point.

"Sounds good to me."

"Really? You don't look so sure to me."

"Oh, what? It's nothing really it's just I've got this feeling something's watching us."

"Well now that you say it. I can feel it too."

Was it the fact she was spying on her friend? No, this is just her making sure her best friend was alright and if he needed her help she could just borrow her mom's scissors, jump right in and lend a helping hand to Marco and Hekapoo if they needed it. Was it the fact that Marco went on an adventure without her? No, that wasn't it either. Marco was entitled to his own adventures when he wants them, he deserves them. But it did hurt a little bit but not that much. The way was she having this feeling knew that something was off.

…

"It could just be nothing. One tends to start feeling like your being watched in a creepy forest like this sometimes."

"I guess your right about that," Marco somewhat agreed with her explanation.

"Of course I am Marco. I'm never wrong," Hekapoo boasted.

Marco just painfully rolled his eyes at her because he knew her better than that. But didn't say anything, as he wanted to stay on her good side as the back of his head, couldn't take another slap.

As they were making their way through the thick dried foliage on their way to the fountain, but it didn't take long for Hekapoo to stop in her tracks and turning around to face Marco with a serious look on her face. This look on her face told Marco that right now it was about to get real.

"All right Marco listen up. The fountain it right over those trees," Hekapoo pointed behind her towards the trees as she made a single clone that immediately ran straight away to the side. "Like we discussed before we distract the guy while my clone sneaks in behind. We'll wait here for a few minutes for my clone to get into position then we move in."

"Alright, so what should we do in the meantime?"

"I don't know," Hekapoo shrugged at Marco's question. "What are you doing after this?"

"What?"

"I said, what are you going to do after we beat up this overgrown lizard?"

"I don't know, go back to the party and hope there's something to eat then maybe go to sleep. That is if Star hasn't gotten into some trouble that I need to help her with or something along those lines like I always do nowadays."

…

"Phhfft whaaaat, that is not true. What is he on about, am I right?" Star nudged Pony Head hopping to get the answer she wanted to hear from her.

"Girl, I love you, I really do. So because I love you so much I'm going to lay it on you straight and just say it as it is. What Marco just said is like seventy-five percent of his job Star, ten percent is stuff I need help with and the remaining fifteen percent is other."

"Other? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I don't know, girl. I don't keep track of him twenty-four seven because that's way too much work for me to do and I'm not a creepy stalker that keeps tabs on him."

"Yeah, that makes sense. But seriously Pony Head seventy-five?!"

"Ah… Star, who do you think put the most effort into getting this ball now turned cinema thingy going?"

Thinking back Marco did seemingly do more than anyone that helped her with this. "Marco." Star hesitated at first in saying it but found no way to work around it.

"That's right girl, that's right. Now shush I want to see what happens next. "

Not wanting to make eye contact with the eye and see what Marco was doing, Star looked around the room to see how everyone was doing with the change of scenery. Looking around she saw everyone was all engrossed into the eyes of Marco and his abs.

There was Higgs, who for some reason or another was looking away from the eye with one of her hands shielding her view of the eye and from what she could make out was her muting something to herself.

"All right Higgs, you can do this," Higgs whispered to herself in order to get herself hyped up. "He's just the same nerd that you've always seen. Sure, he's gotten big and strong as well as. No, stop that Higgs! Marco is just the same wannabe knight, he has always been and that will never change! No matter what!"

With Higgs righteous declaration she removed her hand away from her face. Looked deep within the eye only to be met with the sight of Marco as the wind was blowing through his hair as he had a sexy look of smoldering intensity on his face for the upcoming battle.

"Goddammit," Higgs cursed as she then looked away and covered face again.

"Are you alright Higgs?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Sir Stabby. I just don't want to see the nerd get disemboweled or something," Higgs lied to the knight.

Looking away from whatever Higgs was going through, Star began looking around again hoping to find something that will take her mind off Marco. It didn't take long for Star to find Kelly and Jorby taking to each other. What was most interesting about this was that Kelly had a worried and distraught look on her face.

"What did she mean by that, what are you going to do after? She can't mean, she wouldn't, could she…? Jorby, what do you think she meant by that?"

"Oh yeah, she is definitely making a move on Marco. I mean come on, she took him away from this stuffy ball on to an epic quest to slay the corrupted knight from killing off a magical forest in some distant dimension. And you just know that she is just going to be making her move after the fighting is done, because if that was me I would've already proposed my unyielding and undying love for her."

"Is it too late for me?"

"It's never too late Kelly. You just need to woman up and take what you want!... By force! If you know what I mean," Jorby then gave Kelly a dirty looking wink.

"No Jorby, I'm not going to do that, "she retorted." 'Or am I,' she thought quietly in the back of her subconscious.

As Star was looking on she started to get bored as she was unable to hear what Kelly and Jorby were saying to each other. But from there facial expressions she could tell it was important or something. Again she looked around the room to find something interesting and as she did her eyes fell on Tom.

Tom saw that she was looking at him and hoped that she had forgiven him about the whole not telling her he noticed Marco wasn't here and chose not to say anything. He then smiled and waved at Star only to receive a frown and a shake of the head telling him she still hadn't forgiven him yet.

Looking away Star couldn't find anything of interest. Everyone from the Monsters and Mewmens were still and their eyes glued to the eye. The only thing that could have been considered remotely interesting was when she noticed the Ram Princess was starting to wake up.

"ZZZZZZZzzzzzz wh-what, where am I," she asked as she let out a yawn.

"Hey there sleepy head, had a nice dream?"

"Oh yes, it was the best sleep I've ever had," Ram princess answered as she looked around her surrounding area to see that she was still in the ballroom, but it was radically different than before. "So~ what did I miss?"

"Nothing much, all though things are starting to get interesting as Marco and Hekapoo are about to fight lizard from another dimension," Arm Princess said pointing at the eye that was showing said Marco and Hekapoo.

Ram Princess looked over at the eye and solely focused on Marco and then her mind started to go back to the dirty dream she was just having before she woke up and started to hyperventilate again.

"Wow calm down, girl. You don't want a repeat of last time and miss out on the hot action, do you?"

"Don't worry… I… can handle this… just fine… BAAAA," Ram princess struggled to hold on, but in the end it was futile as she passed out again in her seat.

"Guess you couldn't hold out again."

"Haaa~ nope," Ram princess shoot up awake surprising Arm Princess and the other princesses that were close by and even Star who saw the whole thing. "I'm still here, I just blacked out for a second."

With her momentary shock of surprise now faded, Arm princess saw that Ram Princess had a bloody nose and pulled out her handkerchief and handed it to her friend.

"You're bleeding again, here take this."

"Oh, thank you."

"Don't mention it, but just keep your fantasies on the G to PC side for now. Don't want you to miss out on the action."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"Girl~ I know you! Remember when we went to see the Princess Turdina movie? You fainted like five times and I was stuck helping you stay awake."

"It was only three times and you know that! Also, what did you expect? There was Turdina's swimsuit which looked so sexy on him, there was that dress he wore when he needed to infiltrate the evil king's lair, and the last one where he made-out the prince of the snow elves which I will remind you I wasn't alone in fainting on that one."

"Okay, I will admit that part of the movie was so yaoi that I got a bloody nose from seeing that. Along with getting a lady boner as well," Arm Princess admitted to her friend.

"Don't be embarrassed about that Patty, you weren't the only one that got aroused by that kissing scene. I did and every other princess in the cinema that came with us were going through the same thing as you were."

"Ram, honey, I wasn't embarrassed I was reminiscing about it."

"Oh!~"

"Hey, here's a thought. After this do you want to go and re-watch Princess Turdina movie?"

"That sounds like a good plan to me."

Star smiled a little seeing two friends smiling at each other. Even if she couldn't really hear all that they were saying. She kind of felt left out for some strange reason?

'Is this what I've been feeling?' Star questioned to herself and thought about it for a bit. 'I guess I feel a bit left out. I mean Marco could have told me about this and I would have helped him and Hekapoo with this easily. Or is this the reason Marco didn't tell me?' thinking about this she came to a logical conclusion.

'He knew I would have come with him and Hekapoo on this quest no matter the circumstances, but he knew that I needed to be here and keep order over the party. Oh, Marco, he's always thinking three steps ahead of me like always.'

"Hey yo! Star, something is happening."

…

"So what I'm hearing is that you're free after this, correct?"

"Yes."

"Good. You see I have this reservation at a restaurant for two, but the friend I was going with canceled on me and I don't think I can re-schedule it. That restaurant has a long waiting list, even for someone like me."

Marco thought about it as he rubbed his chin. "Sure, why not," He answered with a smile.

Hekapoo smiled gleefully at Marco's answer almost as if she had already predicted this outcome. Marco, on the other hand, did notice her gleeful smile, but thought nothing of it as it was a pretty common sight for him after all the years he's known her.

After waiting for a few more minutes waiting in hiding Hekapoo nudged Marco in the side to get his attention.

"My clone is in position and is waiting for us to make our move, let's get going."

"Right behind you."

When they both came out of hiding Hekapoo took out her scissor daggers and created a few clones for back up while Marco pulled out his dagger staying behind Hekapoo's clones to watch the rear in case something came behind them. They continued towards the lake unimpeded until they reached the waterside of the lake. Marco looked over Hekapoo and her clones and saw a small island in the middle of the lake that was glowing in sickly, green energy as well as giving of a strange sense of foreboding danger.

"So~ I'm assuming that the guy we came for is hiding in the water of the lake and is waiting for us to enter it so he can ambush us?"

"Yep."

"Any ideas on how to avoid that from happening to us?"

"Yep," Hekapoo repeated again but this time she and her clones raised their hands into the air as fireballs manifested in them and all of them repeatedly throw their giant balls of fire into the lake causing it to boil and bubble as the temperature in the lake started to get hotter and hotter with each fireball that went into it.

"Hot plan."

"That was a lame pun Marco." Hekapoo said but Marco could see she was holding back a smile when he said it.

It didn't take long before the entirety of the lake was passed beyond the boiling point as huge columns of steam and smoke rocketed into the air. The lake water itself wasn't fairing any better than one would hope with the water all boiling with bubbles and steam evaporating a good layer of the lake away. Marco was beginning to think that Hekapoo didn't need him at all, because if the guy they came to fight was in the lake he was as good as dead right now, like a lobster in boiling water.

In total, Hekapoo and her clones pelted the lake with fireballs for a solid one and a half minutes until they stopped to catch their breath and check their handy work in full view.

"Do you think you got him with that?"

"It's never that easy, trust me on this."

And then as if on cue, the boiling lake that was once boiling over stopped. The bubbles and steam that had once covered the lake were now gone and in its place a sheet of cold ice replaced it. A few seconds later, both Marco and Hekapoo could both hear and see the sound of the ice that was right in front of them start to crack under some sort of pressure that they could not see. Not taking any chances they both along with the clones got into their battle stance ready for a fight.

With a loud crack and boom, the ice that covered the nearest section of ice they were near shattered into shards and chunks of ice. As water gushed out from underneath, something very large torpedoed out of the water and ascended high into the air. Marco caught a quick glimpse of what it was that shoot up into the sky. It was brown and had yellow streak lines running down its body, very large in size.

With a loud thud, the lizard man landed right in front of them with the earth cracking beneath his clawed feet. Being so close now, Marco could notice more details on Kai. He was roughly eight and a half feet tall, full of muscle, wore no armor like Hekapoo said he would. After all, who needs armor if your pecks alone could shred steel plated armor. The only article of clothing on him was a pair of waterproof pants that looked to be a few sizes too large if you could believe he could find pants his size. So he must be factoring in size growth with all the magic power he has been absorbing, smart guy.

There was an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air with neither side doing anything to invoke the fight first. That was the case until the giant lizard Kai decided to speak up and say something.

"Look, I know that I'm cold-blooded and all but what you did there," He pointed out at Hekapoo and her clones, "Was way too hot, even for me hehe. I mean if I didn't use my new found magical powers I'd be totally steamed in there." Again laughing at his own joke.

"Oh great!" Hekapoo groaned out in a mixture of frustration. "He's one of those guys!"


	7. Ch 7 The Power of Love

**Important amusement.**

 **After this chapter I plan on working on humanity's dark secrets as I've neglected it for too long and then go back to this story or the red chain of fate depending on how I'm feeling. Hope to see you all soon.**

Ch 7 The Power of Love

"What do you mean by, one of those guys? I'm not trying to be any kind of guy!"

"Yes, you totally are! You're trying to be the funny witty one that has all the muscles but I'm pleased to say that spot is taken already."

"You think I'm witty and funny, H-poo?" Marco inquired with a smile on his face.

"Don't push it, Marco. What did we talk about nicknames in front of the bad guys?"

"'To not to call you by your nickname in front of the bad guys.'"

"Exactly. And you, just be the wild savage you were when my clones came in to deal with you and don't give me any more lip than you already have. Got it!?"

"Well, to be fair, when your clones came I was just starting to absorb the forest's magic so my mind and body were out of focus. And I frivolously apologize for that, I really do, but time had passed since our last meeting and well, what can I say," Ki shrugged his shoulders a bit but then glared evilly over at Hekapoo and Marco. "I got back into focus now."

Ki raised his right hand towards them causing Marco and Hekapoo to take a stance against him. Ki smiled as water started to gather in his hands until it looked like an over-sized water droplet was hanging off his hand. Both Marco and Hekapoo thought he was going to throw that big water droplet at them and were ready to dodge it, but Ki unexpectedly turned to his left away from them and got into a pitching position and threw the water droplet like a baseball the opposite direction.

Both of them were confused as to why he would do this until they noticed that as the water droplet was nearing the edge of the lake it started to curve around the lake at great speed. It only took a matter second till it disappeared behind the fountain. A loud splashing noise was heard from the other side of the lake shortly after its disappearance.

"Did he just kill your clone that was coming from the back?"

"Yep. He really did, I even felt that hit from here."

Having just witness Ki's newly mastered powers Hekapoo curses herself for not bringing more back up then Marco. But no, she just had to have just the two of them come here without telling anybody and now one or both of them will die. Most likely Marco.

"I should have brought Talon with us, he would have to make an excellent meant shield for us. In fact, I still may be able to call him here to take a hit for us."

"There's no time for that H-Poo. What's done is done, just keep your guard up. He looks like he's going to attack us for real this time."

"You're right, I am."

Leaping forward Ki went straight for the both of them hoping to end this fight as soon as it began. Marco and Hekapoo on the other hand weren't going to go down without a proper fight and jumped out the way, each going in the opposite direction.

This served as a simple yet effective tactic when facing an outnumbered opponent that was stronger than them. Simply splitting off from each other and make their opponent go after one or the other. Leaving him blindsided to the other one behind him.

Ki easily fell for this trick as he was drunk on power he was stealing from the fountain, not seeing what he had done wrong.

Seeing them split off Ki immediately went after Hekapoo and didn't even bother thinking twice about Marco. Even with his new found power and confidence he still knew that Hekapoo was the biggest threat to him. Of course, he had fought and won against her clones, but he was no true idiot. Those clones he defeated before were nothing compared to the real Hekapoo. That was just a widely known fact.

Seeing his opportunity Marco made his move and swung his fire enhanced sword down into Ki's back cutting into his flesh. After his successful strike, Marco backed away quickly from Ki just in the nick of time.

Ki not really expecting Marco's weapon to do as much damage as it did to him. Having confidence his magically enhanced scales would keep him safe from most forms of damage. He was still somewhat right about it, as his scales did in fact stop most of the damage that could have been done.

"FUCK!" Ki screamed out violently feeling the pain of Marco's sword cut into him as well as the residual burning sensation he got from his open wound.

Ki lashed out against Marco by swinging his large tail at him hoping to crush him with it, as well as to carefully to not break away the visual sight of Hekapoo. This proved to be very ineffective as Marco dodged his frantic tail swing and Hekapoo jumped in and around Ki too quickly for him to keep up with her after what just happen with him.

Then Ki had realized his mistake in this fight. He thought with all his new found power he'd be able to power his way through his opposition and get back to draining the forest of its power so that he could set off and do what he really wanted to do. Now that he was kicked off his high horse thanks to those two he had to admit that he had bitten off more than he could chew. He knew that he could easily take them on in a one-on-one fight, but with them working together like they just did, even if the fight had only began a moment ago, Ki could already see and painfully feel the excellent teamwork they had.

They were taking turns on attacking him while giving him no opening to counter any of their attacks. When he even tried to hit one of them with his claws or magic spells the other one would attack him and force him into a more defensive state.

Seeing no other option Ki needed some breathing room to think about what to do and he had just the spell for it.

"Water prison!" Ki called out his spell as the water from the lake shoot out towards them.

"Marco, get back now!"

Hearing the spell's name and Hekapoo's worrying were easy indicators about what was happening, the duo jumped back away from the incoming water. Surprisingly enough, the water didn't come anywhere near them at all. Instead, it went straight towards Ki, wrapping itself around him forming a large condensed bubble of swirling water.

"That can't be good?"

"You can say that again. It would appear that Ki didn't lose any brain cells when he got beefed up with magic. I've got to admit even with his few selections of spells he knew, he had the wisdom to repurpose an imprisonment spell into an improvised barrier spell, which was pretty slick of him."

"Impressive, I know, but it's far from perfect. He's trapped himself there unable to move unless he deactivates the water prison and when he does we'll attack him again. Also, looking at the water prison seems like it's full of water and no air. Given the fact his species of lizard is somewhat aquatic in nature, I'm guessing he can hold his breath in there for at least twenty minutes or more."

"Glad to see you didn't lose any brain cell as well, beefcake. You're right on this one, his kind can hold their breath for forty minutes at a time."

"Thanks. Someone needs to be the brains out of the two of us and that job just naturally falls onto me anyways."

…

Back at the Butterfly Castle Star blushed in embarrassment at that remark hoping no one was looking at her right now.

"Oh, when you get back you and I are going to have a very serious talk, Marco."

…

"I'm so looking forward to the day you become old and senile."

"Good luck with that. After you gave me this amulet I'll never grow old and senile."

"You know I could always take that back off you, right?"

"I know, but you won't."

As Marco and Hekapoo continued their little chat with each other while also keeping an eye on Ki, just to make sure he didn't try anything funny. Ki, on the other hand, wasn't going to do anything as of yet. He had a plan in his head he wanted to try and pull off, but it all hinged on two factors for it to work the way he wanted.

He already had all the water he needed for the first part of his plan, but now he needed to have those two attack him. Well, he mostly wanted Hekapoo to attack him in order for his plan to work. However, the way things were going it didn't look like they would attack him or do anything any time soon. It would seem they were okay with just waiting for him to release himself his water prison.

On average, his kind could hold their breath for over forty minutes at a time but that was only if they took a deep breath before they went under, which he didn't. Because he was being attacked on all sides and he panicked a bit and forgot to take a deep breath in, so he had a good ten minutes before he would need to release himself before he drowned. Lucky for him he knew of a way to get them to act.

"Hey Hekapoo, I think he's doing something," Marco pointed out.

Looking over at Ki Hekapoo saw his hand hovering over one of the small cuts that she herself had inflicted upon him glowing a faint green as it started to heal and close up the wound.

"Shit, looks like he knows a minor spell of healing."

"Well that's not good, can't have all that hard work we did go to waste now can we?"

"Agreed, we have to stop him."

"How? That water prison he's in is too dense for your daggers or my sword to reach him."

"Simple Marco. I'll just use the same plan I used to get him out of the water in the first place." With that said Hekapoo made twelve copies of herself as they all lined up in front of Marco and Ki, all readying themselves with balls of fire in hand. "He's either going to come out of his little water bubble of his and fight us, or he boils in that bubble alive."

Not waiting for a reply from Marco or even Ki, Hekapoo and her clones fired streams of hot flames towards Ki hoping to boil the lizard inside his own bubble. Little did she know, this was exactly what Ki wanted from her.

"Fool," was Ki's only words he spoke before he released himself from his water prison.

Before either Marco or Hekapoo could react, Ki released himself from the water prison he was in. He then diverted the water directly towards the streams of fire that was heading straight towards him. With water and fire clashing in midair, a geyser of hot, heavy steam erupted everywhere, blanketing the area in thick clouds of steam. Without wasting any time, Ki rushed in on the moment of weakness. Using the steam filled air as cover he now held the advantage in this battle because of his sense of smell was by far sharper than his opponent's senses.

Hekapoo tried to defend herself from Ki, but felt two of her clones dissipate and soon after that felt a fist collided in her face sending her flying back from the force of the punch. She was sent hurtling into a nearby tree where Marco just so happen to be near and saw her on the dirt floor, hurt and bleeding.

"Hekapoo!" Marco called out in distress as he rushed over to her. "You okay?" Marco asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit dazed." She looked up at Marco seeing the concern on his face, but also saw movement in the mist close behind him. "Lookout!"

Quickly she got up, pushed Marco out of the way and slashed the air with her scissor daggers, sending a flaming X into the mist. This seemed to have no effect as she knew nothing of importance was hit with her attack. She could also sense all the clones she had summoned had been defeated.

"Crap! This isn't looking good, Marco. It seems Ki is using the mist to obscure our vision so that he... could… attack… Marco?" She looked around her to find Marco but found nothing but mist and dirt. "Fuck. I think I pushed him too hard. MARCO!" Hekapoo called out hoping she didn't push Marco too far away to hear her.

"I'm here." Marco sounded off, his voice sounded like it was a considerable distance away. "Just… landed on my face."

"Stay put, I'll come to you." Hekapoo was about to head towards where she last heard Marco but a voice spoke out just from behind her ear.

"Aw, how sweet of you, but my heart already belongs to someone else."

Hekapoo stopped and pivoted around her on reflex with her daggers in her hand. Luckily she was quick enough that she managed to nick Ki in the chest as he tried to back away from that attack. However, when Ki backed away from the attack it was mainly just a faint distraction. Keeping her attention off the clouded ground, not seeing that Ki's tail had slithered on the floor and coiled around her leg and it pulled her down dragging her with him deeper in the mist away from Marco.

Hearing the sounds of Hekapoo being dragged away along with her cursing growing farther away Marco tried to follow it but to no avail.

Now Marco found himself alone in the mist without Hekapoo. He tried listening for her voice but heard nothing anywhere besides his own breathing. Seeing as he'd no longer have support anymore Marco readied himself for whatever Ki had planned for him. As Marco waited for any signs of Ki he saw some shifting in the mist telling him that Ki was now somewhere around him. Thinking of a way to pinpoint his location Marco thought of a way for Ki to reveal his location.

"So… Ki, was it? What's next after you absorb all the magic in the forest? Is it world domination? Revenge? Or is it something more?"

Marco asked out of nowhere hoping to get a response form Ki and after a few seconds, he got what he was looking for.

"I know what you are trying to do?"

'Got him.' Marco could hear his voice coming from behind him, but choose to keep his back turned to not give away his plan. "Really, what am I trying to do then?"

"You're trying to buy some time for Hekapoo to recover and rejoin the fight. Don't hold your breath. Where she is right now she won't be coming to you aid, little man."

"Did you kill her?" Ki could hear the anger in his voice and saw his hands grip his sword a bit tighter than normal.

"Oh, gods no. Killing a member of the Magic High Commission is more trouble than it's worth. I mean the price of my head would skyrocket into the heavens. Cutthroats and bounty hunters would constantly harass me and that goes against what I want."

Marco could hear Ki getting closer with every word he said but he still did not attack him. Marco still needed for Ki to be a little bit closer to him for his attack to reach him without Ki having time to counter him. The confirmation from Ki himself that Hekapoo was fine calmed the little voice in his head that told him to abandon the plan and attack.

"You never did answer my first question."

"Do you really want to know?"

"Sure, why not? I always beat heads into the ground and never ask questions, but I feel like a change. So are you going to tell me or not?"

A few seconds of silence passed before Ki gave Marco an aware,"I did it for love."

"You did all this for love? What, did your dark mistress tell you to go kill a forest to prove your love for her?" Marco mocked, not expecting the reaction he would soon get.

Hearing a loud, abrasive growling, and what sounded like something being gripped with a lot of force, Marco's sharp warrior instincts kicked in. Quickly leaping away from his position a large, dead tree came smashing onto the ground where he was previously standing.

"Don't you dare call her something like that! Like some common, dark mistress bull shit!" Ki yelled out to Marco steeping out of the mist and in full view of Marco visibly very angry. "She is pure and loving while also being a strong and independent woman and I'll not stand idly by as you drag her name in the mud like that, you hear me?!"

'Well, there goes that plan. Got to think of a new plan now.'

"I said, did you hear me?!" Ki called out again but more aggressively.

"Yes, I heard you loud and clear. But if she really is as pure and loving not evil then why did she send you to drain all the magical energy in this forest?"

Visibly, Marco saw the look of anger leave Ki's face as he looked away from Marco and it soon turned into an embarrassment similar to those times in anime when the girl was about to confess to something bad she did, but didn't want to say it while she would poke her fingers together.

"Is there something important that you're not telling me?"

Marco had all the right to take advantage of this situation as Ki had lost focus on him and was wide open for an attack. He was pretty sure he could have ended Ki right here and now, but his curiosity got there better of him.

"…"

"Ki, what is it that you aren't telling me?"

"Well, you see, the funny thing is."

"Ki, what is it?"

"Will now hear me out first before you judge me? You see, she may not really know who I am."

"Wait, I'm confused. Then why are you doing this if she didn't tell you or even know about you to begin with?"

"Well, funny story about that. You see it all started when I quit the Shade Lizards and I…"

"Wait a second, I heard you were kicked out of the Shade Lizards for unknightly behavior like drug dealing and taking bribes."

"Unknightly behavior?" Now it was Ki that had a confused look on his face. "You make it sound like the Shade Lizards were an order of knights or something."

"Weren't they?"

"No, they were a mercenary group. I left them because they were corrupt to the core and had no morals on what jobs they accepted. I'll be the first one to admit that some Shade Lizards, not that I would ever stoop so low did take bribes, but others from time to time would. Mostly those that did were higher in the rank then. However, I assure you we never once dealt in drugs… the thieves guild had that market cornered."

"I see." 'I'm going to have a talk with Hekapoo later about her detective skills.'

"May I continue or did you have another question for me?"

"No, please continue. This is starting to get interesting."

"So after I left I hit a pretty bad spot in my life. I had given up hope in the people around me and all I ever saw was the corruption around me. It had gotten so bad I had turned to the bottle to drown out my sorrows. I was like that for months, I was even contemplating with the thought of just ending it all. But on one rare day that I was sober with only a few coins to my name, not really enough to buy my favored brand of liquor, I saw a little girl in the park playing with a pink princess doll that I have started seeing advertisements for around the city that I was in at the time. And do you know what that doll said that changed my life forever? It said, in a voice so sweet yet so full of dedication."

"It's not criminal to be an individual."

'Oh, you've got to be kidding me.'

…

 **Butterfly Castle**

"Oh, my corn!" Star gasped as did many others did many others that heard what Ki said. All shocked at the new revelation on Ki's motivation.

"Oh I know dear," came Eclipsa's voice, right beside Star. "The plot thickens."

A stunned look fell on Star as she saw that Eclipsa was just casually sitting beside Star as she was eating another chocolate bar she got from God only knew where.

"Eclipsa! What are you doing here? I thought you went back to your room after you left."

"Oh I did my dear, but you see I just went back to my room to get changed into something more proper. I did feel rather underdressed with what I had on before."

Star looked over Eclipsa and noticed that she was wearing a far more elegant dress than the one she usually wore, one as black as the moonlit sky. Adorn with finely cut pearls, obsidian and other precious gems that made her dress reflect the light making it look as if it was something akin to the northern lights.

"I see, but when did you get back here? And how come I didn't notice you?"

"Oh, I got back here just bit after you finished casting my spell. And as for you not noticing me, from what I could tell you looked like you had a lot of things on your mind. I mean who could blame you? You are a young princess trying to get Monster and Mewmans to live together in harmony. Also, have you seen those abs on Marco? Who would have thought that your squire grows into such a fine man? You just need to look around here to see ever princess going gaga over him, even some of the married queens are basking in his physique. Some of the princes and kings are as well by the looks of it, but who could honestly blame them? It's not like I'm one to judge them."

"I guess I see you're point and I'm sorry that I didn't notice you sooner. It was just that I'm very worried about Marco."

"It's fine dear," Eclipsa warmly smiled. "You don't need to worry about him anymore."

"But he's still fighting that Ki guy."

Eclipsa looked at the All Seeing Eye to ponder over Marco's current circumstance with Ki.

"Oh don't worry, the fight is most definitely over by the looks of things. I may not have known Marco for a long time but I can tell he isn't a brute that just swings his," Eclipsa paused and looked over Marco's body. "Surprisingly well-defined muscular arms around, like some sort of savage only interested in the next brawl."

"Come on, what's with all of his talking?! Get back to the action!" River shouted at the All Seeing Eye only to be shushed by his wife. "Sorry, Moon Pie."

"My point being, you and I both know Marco is a sweet boy… man?..." Eclipsa wasn't really sure because of the two points of age for Marco. "I'll just ask him what he prefers when I see him next. But the point is he is more than his bulging muscles or a handsome face. He's a nice and caring person that has a brain to match and he knows that is more important than having all the power in the world."

"Yeah, that really does sound like Marco, like a lot like him, hehe."

"Indeed it is dear," Eclipsa nodded wisely with a smile. "So, Star dear, when did Marco and Hekapoo start dating each other?" Eclipsa asked in a hushed whisper in Star's ear.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?!"


	8. Ch 8 Star idol

**So it's over now. Star vs the forces of evil has ended. All and all I give the series a 7/10 a good watch but I felt that there was so much more there could have been done. Much like Adventure Time I'll miss it and wonder what will replace it. And FUI my ending will be nothing like that, Hekapoo dies in the end! Come on man she was the best. And if that ending happened in real life there would be so many problems happening right now.**

 **Also sorry about the long wait I'm not joking when I say work has been killing me with overtime. I want to say no but I want that overtime pay. But now things are slowing down and I'll be putting more time into writing hope to see you all soon.**

Ch 8 Star Idol

"I'm sorry, what did you say!?" Star asked not really thinking she heard Eclipsa's words right.

"I asked if Marco and Hekapoo are going out with each other, as in dating each other?"

"What?... why would you or anyone even think that Marco and Hekapoo of all people were going out with each other?" Star asked ignoring Eclipsa's question.

"Well for one you can just feel and see the sexual tension between them. I mean, come on Star. I have been watching the same thing and you don't see it?"

Star was oblivious for a while trying to come with the terms that Eclipsa was right but Pony Head butted into their conversation.

"Well I saw it, but I don't think all that sexual tension is a mutual thing. If I know the Earth turd, and trust me I do, check my sources and references if you want, that is a one-way street. I don't mean to be rude or anything to Hekapoo or Marco, and don't say that I said this because I'm afraid she may kill me, but she seems thirsty as hell girl because you know, she hardly gets any."

"Pony Head! That's very rude to say. And yeah, she'd probably kill you if she found out you said that and this is a private conversation we are having here between Butterflies."

"Well I'm sorry for butting in Star but you're so loud the only reason why no one else can even hear you is because they're being distracted by Marco's abs and sexy voice."

"That's not true."

"I don't know about that sweetie. You were quite loud and you didn't notice me when I came back in and sat right next."

"I noticed, I even complimented you on your dress and just to rehash what I said before. Girl, you are looking fine today." Pony added.

"Thank you, dear, I remember."

The both of them shared a laugh together which only seemed to annoy and embarrass the princess to new heights that she has never felt before.

"Ah~ that's enough. This conversation is going nowhere any time soon. And no, Marco and Hekapoo are not dating because if they were Marco would have told me."

"Are you sure, Star? They do seem quite close and Marco does seem to be Hekapoo's type. Although he does have a higher intelligence level than what she usually goes for but hey three hundred years is plenty of time for people to change their taste in men or women, depending on the person of course."

"Maybe they will be after tonight. It's most likely that Hekapoo will make the first move on Marco because let's face it he is dense when it comes things like this."

"I'd have to agree with you there dear and you're not wrong about her making the first move either."

"I'm not?"

As the conversation between Pony Head Eclipsa continued, Star just sat there in between them trying to not listen to their conversation on Marco and Hekapoo's relationship with each other and just solely focus on watching Marco through the eye. Sadly, that plan was failing miserably with each word that came out of their mouths. Star couldn't help but listen in on it.

"I've known Hekapoo for quite some time and let me tell you this, she has worn the pants in all of the relationships she's had."

"You know, a lot of people say that to me but I never really understand that euphemism as my kind doesn't wear pants. Or like clothes in general. Like ever."

…

"You can't be serious. Are you telling me you are trying to woe Princess Turdina, someone you've never even met in your life?" Marco asked in disbelief.

"…" Ki was hesitant with answering Marco as he did feel somewhat embarrassed for telling Marco his reasoning.

"Ki, tell me!" Marco demanded.

"…Yes." He finally answered shyly.

"And why did you think you could woe her anyways. You two are like to different species and how old are you even?"

"Love knows no one species and I'm only twenty years old by the way. Before you say anything about Princess Turdina going out with Vulen Trisgwyn, that snow elf she co-starred in her movie with is nothing but false rumors as it's a known fact that Vulen Trisgwyn is a well-known, super gay elf."

'Yeah, I already know that a little too well in-fact.' Marco said to himself as he remembered all the times Vulen tried to hit on him when he found out he was a guy under the dress and swimsuit.

"Look, Ki, take it from me she's not going to be interested in you no matter how much muscles you have."

"Oh yeah, how would you know that? Are you her brother or something?"

'I am her you fuck wit!' Marco wanted to scream out at him but he decided against it as he may not believe him or worse. He becomes another Vulen. God only knows he can't take another one of those.

"Do you think Princess Turdina is that shallow of a person?"

"What was that?"

"I said do you think Turdina is a shallow person that only likes someone for their power and looks."

"Of course not. She is…" Marco then cut him off before he can finish.

"Then why do this. Would she love you if she knew what you've done in the past?"

"I've changed my ways. I'm a better man now then I've ever been. And when she sees me now she could not help but fall in love with me!"

'Okay, this guy is just full of himself and he's too strong to fight him one-on-one right now. I just got used to going back in my young body and now back in my older body is throwing me off a little. I need more practice in it but for now, I must play it smart… can't believe I'm going to do this. Hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later on in life.'

"Yes, I agree. You have changed." Marco looks over Ki's strong new body. "You have grown strong there is no questioning that, but-" Marco looked around him and saw the dying forest drawing Ki's eyes to where he was looking. "You've also grown more foolish in your attempts to seem more worthy of Turdina's affections but all you've done is show how inadequate of her you really are."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Remember in the movie when Vulen gave Princess Turdina a lovely bouquet of rare flowers from across multiple different worlds and then she started crying? Vulen had first thought they were tears of joy but Turdina told him that her tears were of sorrow."

"Yes, I remember that part. She cried because such rare flowers were used in such a wasteful manner… that it… would not around for the garden to grow with… oh god, what have I done!" Ki fell to his knees in defeat with his will to fight having been shattered so easily right after his spirit had been so high.

Marco, seeing that he had won the fight lowered his flaming sword as it turned back into its original dagger form and then sheathed it. Walking up towards Ki Marco feared no retaliation from Ki, for he had won. Not in a physical way but in a battle of wits and reason he reigned supreme.

When Marco got right in front of Ki, he looked up to see Marco staring down at him. Ki couldn't bear the look of the victor and hung his head in shame for what he had done.

"You had won, there is no questioning that," Ki admitted to Marco. "I no longer have any reason to go on anymore with my plans to get the princess to notice me and adore me have backfired on me. She'll more than likely hate my guts when she finds out what I've done here and probably kill me."

"I don't know about that man. I heard she's pretty forgiving."

"I know she is but I don't want her forgiveness. I am undeserving or such things. I have sullied her good name with the actions I have committed in my blind pursuit of power and one-sided love. It's just that. I thought if I had some power to back up my devotion she'd love me, then I could start being a better person for it."

"That's where you went wrong, Ki. You don't start to be a better person when you get what you want. You work on yourself in the hopes of becoming a better person and then you can maybe, maybe~ get what you're looking for."

"You speak from experience, don't you?"

"Yeah, I am. In more ways than one. So take it from me when I say this, you don't really love Turdina. You merely like the idea of her."

"No, you're wrong! I love her i-"

"You said it yourself that you were in a drunken stupor when you fell for her man. Ask any professional and they'll say that's unhealthy and not a good way to start a relationship. Real or otherwise."

Ki paused and thought about what Marco said to him as in really thinks to himself. How it all started, how he came to the conclusion that this is what he needed to do. God, his life was a mess and he needs to fix himself. This honorable, handsome stranger was right.

"Was it hard, was improving yourself difficult?" Ki asked his voice barely a whisper but nevertheless, he was heard by Marco as clear as daylight.

"Of course it was difficult." Marco firmly answered him. "I was chasing, being chased, stabbed, fell off many cliffs, fought in many battles and wars, got lost, made stupid mistakes and missed too many golden opportunities. Hell, one time I was even turned into a yam for a week after insulting a necromancer's cooking." Marco listed off.

"But even with all those failures, I grow as a person. With each hardship I faced, I persevered onward no matter what. As the years went on I grow stronger and stronger and after fifteen years I got what I was looking for. Once finally I got it, I felt a little sad."

"Why, why would you feel sadness when you got what you wanted?"

Marco smiled at Ki as he looked him in the eyes. "Because it was the end of the journey you know. After all those years I made many good memories and some bad ones but those only added to the feeling of each one of the good moments it had giving them weight and meaning." Marco paused and looked back on those memories he cherished with nothing but happy thoughts. "And after a while, I realized something not five seconds later. That this journey had indeed ended, but that didn't mean there wasn't another journey just waiting for me around the next corner."

Marco's words touched Ki as well as everyone that was watching him through the eye. It was a unique combination of wise words, a sexy masculine voice along with a hot body that made every person pay attention to him.

Marco offered him a hand up and Ki at first was hesitant to accept it at first, but after that speech he gave how could he not. As their hands clasped together with their powerful grip alone caused the muscles in their forearms to tense up and with the mist clearing up and the sun was rising in the background. The shine of wet skin and scales shined in the sunlight of dawn. Two harden warriors, in an understanding of power and wisdom, saw in one another what one wanted to be and the other seeing what he used to be. The first, a person inspire to and the other saw a working progress.

Pulling himself up Ki stood tall, invigorated with new purpose and meaning with the inspiration Marco gave him. However, even with all of this, there was one thing he just had to know.

"Just what did you used to be, before all of this?"

"I used to be called the safe kid."

"Really?" Ki questioned unbelievingly.

"I once wore a helmet in the gym shower, along with other safety-related stuff."

"Wow, you sounded pathetic back then."

"Yeah, I know. But that was then and this is now."

"Thanks, I think I really needed this talk."

"No worries man. So not to kill the moment but are you going to undo the thing?"

"Oh right! I totally forgot." Taking his hand he shoved it into his mouth reaching in deep into himself Ki pulled out a dark purple crystal from his mouth and handed it over to Marco.

"Gross, what is it?"

"It's a receiver crystal. It comes in pairs and the second one is in the fountain as it drains the power of the fountain and then directs it to me. Just destroy this one and the other one will shatter along with it."

"Won't that drain you of power?"

"Yes, but it'll be a slow process," Ki explained turning away from Marco he started to walk away from him.

"Hold it right there!" Marco called out. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Nowhere really just somewhere I guess. All I know is, I'll be a better person after I get there."

"And you think I'd just let you go?"

"No, but it's either stopping me or helping out H-poo."

"Oh my god I forgot about her and also I'm the only one that can call her that. You know without her trying to kill the person she hears calling her that. Trust me on this, I've seen it."

"Whatever you say, man. She's over there past the tree line."

"Thanks, catch you later."

"Looking forward to it oh and Marco."

"Yeah?"

"Next time we met I want to fight you as the real me. Not this jacked up version of me, but the person I shape myself to be so I can prove something of myself. I don't know what that will be just yet, all I know is that it will be something I want to be."

"Sure why not? Just remember, I won't go easy of you."

"I'd have it no other way."

With no more words to exchange, Ki started walking off in the opposite direction he had pointed Marco in. Marco wasn't sure if Ki knew where he was going or was going in the furthest direction from them as possible because when he gets Hekapoo out of whatever is keeping her down all bets are off.

With the thick cloud of steam somewhat fully dissipating from the area Marco now had his full vision of sight now and what he found just beyond the tree lines Ki pointed out was a larger dead tree covered in something yellow. As Marco got closer he could hear a muffled voice coming from the tree that sounded like Hekapoo and when he reached the tree he saw something that he'd never forget for the rest of his life.

…

"Okay, that's more than enough!" Queen Moon declared as she without hesitation interrupted the eye before anyone could voice their opinion.

"Mom what the hell! What was that for?" Star whined along with the other guests. "I didn't get to see what happen to Hekapoo!"

"Trust me Star, if you or anyone saw what had happened to Hekapoo we'd all be in trouble."

"Why would that be? Do you know what happened to her?"

"Sort of. I know the tree where Marco went to and there is only one kind of tree that could give her some trouble if she isn't careful."

"What kind of tree could possibly give Hekapoo trouble?"

"I'll tell you later. All you need to know is I had to save face for the Magic High Commission."

Star, not liking the reasoning her mother gave her, just pouted as she couldn't really argue with her when it came to anything involving the Magic High Commission.

"Oh don't give he that face Star. You still have to see to it that these people go home now as it is getting a bit late."

"I guess you're right, but a lot of guests wanted to see what happened next with Marco."

"You can ask him when he gets back Star. Until then make sure you say your goodbyes to everyone."

"Yeah, I'm on it."

With the Royal ball/movie officially over, Star said her goodbyes to all those that attended. Some she found had a great time with the dancing and socializing along with the sight of what Marco would look like a few years down the line with many of the princesses asking her if they could 'borrow' the services of her squire. Some even offered her money and or political favors if she did. Not wanting to sound rude, she just told them she'd think about it and would get back to them.

"Alright, hope to hear from you soon. Me and Ram here are in need of some serious protection from a hot hunk- I mean honorable man like Marco," Patty said her voice underlined with desires and unclean motives unsuited for the public to hear. "Isn't that right Ram?"

"Yeah… it is Star… we need to be protected by those big strong-" Ram blabbered on as she was just picturing herself being pin down by a shirtless and sweaty Marco after fighting off a dragon that had tried to eat her, only for Marco to be the one that was going 'eat' her out.

"Wow down girl, save your fantasies for when he's around," Patty interrupted. "See you, Star. Remember just send Marco down to my kingdom whenever you can." Patty winked at Star and left.

"Or mine Star," Pam added following Patty out.

However in truth, as Ram and Patty left Star made a mental note to not let Marco anywhere near their kingdoms. It's not that she viewed Marco as he was some sort of personal property of hers even though he was her squire. She did it mostly out of the safety for her friend's mental and physical purity, of course, and nothing more than that.

"Oh Star girl had a wonderful time here and that Eclipsa chick was some good company I mean did you see that dress she was wearing. Come on that dress was just drop dead gorgeous oh and Star."

"Yeah, Pony Head?"

"If you tell the Earth Turd that I found him attractive in anyway, including the thing I wanted to do to him in his hot older body, which I remind you I didn't know that was him at the time ha-ha~" Pony Head started joyfully laughing only to suddenly stop as she brought her face right in Star's face right into her face. "I'll for reals cut you. Alright? Good, love you Star bye." She threatened with a serious yet loving voice just before flying off home.

Others, however, weren't so happy when they were leaving for one reason or another.

"Tell me the truth Jorby, do I have a chance with Marco?"

"Kelly, quit doubting yourself. You are a strong, independent, warrior and if you want something you should just take it, by force if necessary!"

"No Jorby, that's not what I want to do. I mean I like Marco and I know he likes me, but not in the way I want him to like me."

"Then just use sexy force to make him like you like the way you like him."

"No Jorby that's just..." Kelly paused and thought about how she could make use of 'sexy force' when she and Marco have their little get together. "You know what, I think you may be on to something there Jorby."

"I always am," Jorby grinned to himself.

"Is there something wrong, Higgs? I've noticed that you seem a little bit down lately," Sir Stabby asked his squire.

"It's nothing," Higgs lied.

"Is it because you didn't get to meet Princess Turdina?"

'Oh shit, I forgot about that!' Higgs mentally shouted in her head. "Yeah, I was really looking forward to meeting with her."

"Oh don't be so glum about it Higgs. The next royal party we go to I'm sure Princess Turdina will come. Star and the other princesses did seem to know Princess Turdina on a personal level. So I'm sure you'll get your chance next time."

"Yeah," Higgs agreed with what Sir Stabby was saying making her feel a little bit better. "Next time for sure."

"Also Higgs I've got a special announcement for you. I was going to save it for tomorrow after you polished my armor and sword, but I might as well tell you now."

"Really, what is it?" Hearing the real joy in Higgs' voice Sir Stabby had a feeling this would really make Higgs happy.

"Higgs, I'm sending you on your first real quest," Sir Stabby announced as Higgs' eyes widen in appreciation.

With every one of the guests that have left the Butterfly Castle, Star had just one more thing she really had to deal with before the night was over. She looked over to where Tom was standing patiently over the corner and noticed she was looking over at him. Taking it as a sign she wanted to talk to him, Tom calmly walked over to her.

"So Star, look I'm really sorry I didn't tell you I thought Marco was missing. I see that now. But it's just that I thought that if I raised a fuss about it and Marco wasn't really missing, well, you'd ruin the ball over nothing. I didn't want to ruin this for you, not after all the hard work you and Marco put into it."

"Yeah, I see that. Kind of almost did after I found out. Luckily, I kind of saved it with the eye and everything, so yeah..."

"So," Tom sheepishly spoke. "Does this mean you forgive me?"

Star didn't immediately answer Tom's question. As she looked deep within his eyes she finally came up with a response.

"Yes, I forgive you, Tom," Star replied lovingly bringing Tom down and kissing him on his cheek. Then immediately slapping him hard on the other cheek. "But I'm still very mad at you, so you better not do that to me again!"

"Ouch!" Tom yelped out in pain rubbing his cheek where Star slapped him. "Yeah Star, I promise I won't do that again."

"Good boy and good night Tom." Bringing Tom down again Star kissed him on the cheek she had slapped with him then kissed him on the lips. As they parted she waved him off.

With Tom now walking off to go home just before he left the doorway out he turned back towards Star.

"Hey Star, quick question. Do you like guys with big muscles?" Tom asked out of nowhere.

"Uh…" Star was confused at this question that Tom asked but saw no reason to not answer his weird question. "Yes. I mean, who doesn't like guys with some muscle?"

"Cool, cool-cool-cool alright see you later Starship." Having the answer he was looking for, Tom left with the mental note to start working out.

With Tom now gone, Star saw all the servants starting to clean up and get everything packed away. Noticing this, Star slowly made her way to her room. After the long day she had with all the work she put in she deserved the rest. As she was making her way to her room, Star wondered when Marco would come back from helping Hekapoo. Finding herself in front of Marco's room she decided to wait for him in his room thinking this was where he would come back to first.

Upon entering his room, Star went over to Marco's bed, took off her dress, throwing it to the floor without a care in the world and laid on the bed. As she saw one of Marco's hoodies laying right next to her, she grabbed it and decided to put it on her to keep warm on this cold, lonely night. Even knowing that Marco was okay, she couldn't help but still feel worried about her loyal squire and best friend.

"Oh well, I could always check up on him with the All-Seeing Eye if he's taking too long to get back to me," Star reassured herself as she got comfortable in Marco's bed, taking a big sniff of the hoodie she was now wearing to relax. "Smells just like Marco, and his homemade nachos." She mused as her stomach began to growl loudly, like a starved best. "Fuck, it's making me hungry."


	9. Ch 9 Sticky Dinner

**Hi there just wanted to apologize about not updating like I use to. Don't really know why it's just is. Also, to inform you is that I'll be updating 'humanity's dark secrets' because I'm getting a lot of PMs to and then I'll update 'The Red Chain Of Fate' cause I want to and then 'He is mine to have' if people want it. And last but not least I may update 'love of friendship' or back around to 'Squire to knight.'**

 **Let's hope I can keep my word on this and don't forget to comment, favorite and follow as it fuels me to write more.**

Ch 9 Sticky Dinner

"So, explain to me again why you can't just out again?" Marco asked Hekapoo.

When Marco got to the sound of someone calling out for help he assumed it might have been Hekapoo, and he was right. For when he got to the large tree where the sound was coming from he found her. Stuck in yellow sticky sap that covered most of her body, along with her eyes. Marco did manage to wipe off the sap that covered her eyes but soon found that the sap was really, really thick and sticky. So much so that even just having his hands covered in the stuff it was difficult to even move his finger apart from each other.

So there they were, Marco just standing outside the reach of any of the yellow sap while sucking and licking the sap off his hand, which was the only safe way Marco found to work to get it off of him. Surprisingly it actually tasted pretty good, both rich and sweet. He'd know that Star would love this stuff and planned to get some of this stuff later for her. But only in small quantity, he didn't want her getting stuck on something or someone.

"Like I've said before,this stuff is very difficult to get out of because it's FUCKING hard to move in and it fucking hurts when I move because it also got in my hair! FUCK!" Hekapoo screamed in pain when she tried to move the sap that was in her hair pulled a few strands loose.

"I see that but what I don't get is why didn't Ki get stuck in there with you? I mean you're pretty deep in there."

"Because that scaly basters species naturally excretes a thin layer of oil over his scales that prevent the sap from sticking to him," Hekapoo explained still trying to get out of the sap. "I swear when I get out of here I'm going to pluck every one of his scales one by one, slowly," Hekapoo swore her voice full of malice. "You did leave him alive for me did you?"

"Uh, yes."

"Good, where did you leave him tied up?" she asked with an evil grin on her face.

"Oh no nothing like that, I let him go."

"What, why would you do that?!"

"What can I say, he wasn't a threat anymore and also you need to work on your detective skills. He wasn't going to be a warlord or anything like that. He only did it to impress a princess that he had no chance with. Trust me on this, he really did have no chance with her."

"Well, I do remember saying it was ninety percent chance that he'd become a warlord. And before you start criticizing my detective skills, Rhombulus is way worse then I am. He's imprisoned multiple people on multiple occasions for just looking evil."

"Did that ever include you?"

"Yeah, a few times but I always dodged it or had a clone take the hit for me."

As they continued talking Marco saw Hekapoo was almost out of sap. "Did you even try to burn away the sap?"

"That wouldn't work. You see this sap has special properties that if it is exposed to a high temperature of heat the sap begin to harden like steel." Hekapoo explained as she was reaching the edge of the sap grasp. "Now help me out of this now, I don't want to be stuck in this any longer then I have to."

Hekapoo scratched out her hand for Marco to take. Grabbing on to her hand Marco started pulling as hard as he could. As he did he could also felt that the sap was trying equally hard to pull Hekapoo back into it along with Marco as well. Not wanting to pull himself into the sap, Marco adjusted himself so he wouldn't slip up and fall before one mighty herculean pull he was able to pull Hekapoo out of the sap. They both heard something ripping as Hekapoo was freed from the sap, the momentum of the pull sending them careening backward into another tree. Thankfully the tree they hit was just another normal dry dead tree with no sticky sap anywhere near it.

Coming to Marco had realized he had held Hekapoo in his big strong arms shielding her from the impact. This would have been considered a normal thing had he not realized that she wasn't wearing her dress. Hekapoo came to as well and saw the situation at hand they were in and didn't care in the slightest as she got up off the floor busting herself off.

Hekapoo stood up tall and as proud as anyone as short as she was when only in her underwear. Looking down Hekapoo saw Marco was still on the floor staring at her noticeably blushing bright red. Seeing that she was looking at him he turned away from her embarrassed that he was caught staring. Laughing a bit to herself Hekapoo outstretched her hand to help Marco up which he gladly accepted it.

As he got up Marco still didn't look at Hekapoo still too embarrassed to look at her with the state she was in. Hekapoo herself had no real problem with her appearance and slapped Marco on his ass to get him to look at her.

"Oh come on you big baby you've seen more than this. And no one else is here to see me like this but you, big boy," Hekapoo playfully scolded.

Rubbing his ass from the painful slap Hekapoo gave him, Marco now looking back at Hekapoo only stared at her with disapproving eyes. "Well, I was only trying to be a gentleman about it by showing some class, my Lady Hekapoo." Marco sneered in a fake posh British accent as he was a bit bitter for the slapping of his ass.

"My Lady Hekapoo? It's been a long time since you've called me that."

"What can I say, I'm feeling very sentimental right now."

"Whatever Muscles. Since you foolishly let Ki go did you at least undo whatever he did to the fountain?"

"No, not yet, however," Marco handed over the crystal that Ki gave him. "He gave me this before he left said there's another one in the fountain as well. I would've gone and got the other one but I came to help you out first."

"Thanks." She thanked Marco as she looked over the crystal. "I recognize this crystal they're very rare and come in pairs. This is some powerful stuff Ki got his hands on." She explained before crushing the crystal in her hands with very little effort. "Not that it matters anymore."

"Uh…" shocked at what he saw Marco was about to say something until he was cut off.

"Don't worry about it the other crystal was destroyed along with this one at the same time so everything is fine. No need to panic, Muscles."

"Okay, so is the forest going to start healing now or do we still need to do something about it?"

"No, 'we' don't need to do anything. I one the other hand do. Or more precisely my clones need to do something." Multiple clones of Hekapoo start appearing all around her, but these ones are wearing her normal attire. "These guys are going to have to start setting fires all over the forest to burn away all the dead plant life so that new plant life can grow in its place and do all the seed planting and other boring stuff I don't want to get into."

"Are you sure that'll be alright for you to just burn the forest down and leave like this?"

"Marco, this is a magical forest. Earth rules don't really apply here, also the circle of life and whatnot just trust me I know what I'm doing."

"Okay, looks like you got everything under control," Marco said as he pulled out his interdimensional scissors and opened up a portal.

"Wow, wow," Hekapoo called out stopping Marco from entering the portal he just made. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Uh… home, back to Mewni."

"What about the dinner I invited you to? Are you just going to flake on me now?"

"No, I'm not it's just that the ball-"

"Is most likely over by now." Hekapoo cut in. "You've been gone for quite some time."

"Yeah but Star may be worried that I-"

"If she was so worried she would of have tried to contact you but she didn't," Hekapoo cut off Marco again. "And speaking of the ball, how come I wasn't invited to attend?"

"Sorry about that it's just that Star didn't want anyone from the Magic High Commission, not after what happened last time at the monster temple. Well, besides Moon of course because you know, her castle and all. Also, do you really think you should be going to any fancy restaurant looking like that?" Marco pointed out Hekapoo's current attire and sticky sap that covered some parts of her.

"Oh, that's easily fixed, Marco."

Taking his interdimensional scissors off him she closed the portal he made and then opened a new one and entered it alone as it closed behind her. After a quick two seconds passed and a new portal opened up and out stepped Hekapoo. No longer covered in sap, she approached him wearing a red long slim form-fitting dress with gold studs adorning her chest and shoulder area that showed off all her curves in all the right places along with a generous helping of her ample cleavage. Her hair straightened out as well as a few strands of her hair were braided with sapphire beads on the ends of each braid while still covering her right eye. Her horns seemed to have been polished to a mirror finish as well as sharpened at the points. She was also had it decorated in all sorts of gold and other valuable minerals like pearls and opals.

"Well, how do I look?"

"…" she was met with only silence with Marco unable to describe how beautiful she looked, only able to stare in amazement.

"I'll take your dumbfounded silence as a compliment." That snapped Marco out of his daze.

"Well, I won't lie. You look good but what about me?"

"What about you?"

"I'm hardly dressed to go to some fancy restaurant especially when I'm compared to you."

"Well again, thanks for the compliment and don't worry about it." Hekapoo brushed Marco's concern away. "The outfit I gave you will be just fine. The fight you were in was not at all that intense from what I can see." Looking over Marco she saw no damage done to the clothes she made for him. A little dirty but a good pat down will be enough for a quick clean up. "But if anyone ever does sneer at what you're wearing just flash and flex those large pectoral muscles at them. They'll either be intimidated or enthralled by you or maybe both."

"I feel like you're only taking me is because you want to show me off to everyone as if I was your boy toy or something."

"Oh please Marco, you're more of a fashion accessory to me. After all, every girl deserves to feel pretty." She teased as she wrapped her arms onto Marco right arm.

"That hurts H-poo that really hurts."

"Oh don't be such a big baby." Hekapoo lightly pinched his face. "Just keep in mind that if you're well behaved and show me a good time I might promote you to boy toy if you're lucky."

"Well, I feel very honored."

"You better be. Now let's go," she said using Marco's scissors to open a portal.

"Wait what about Nachos?"

"Oh don't worry about that, one of my clones will take care of her." She answered steeping throw the portal with Marco in hand.

When they both passed through the portal Marco saw they were in some kind of wide open street that is lined with high-end buildings with elaborate architecture. The road was well maintained looking as good as new as chariots were being pulled by such well pampered exotic creatures that he didn't recognize. Everywhere he looked every person he was here wore stunning outfits and dresses that were on the cutting edge of fashion. Hell, even the air in this places smelled divine, free of pollution and impurities.

"Didn't expect that I'd take you to a place like this, didn't you?"

"I wasn't even sure a like place like this even existed," Marco said in wonder. "Where are we?"

"We're in a dimension called Azural Paradise, it's only a place for the wealthy and powerful for all across the dimensions. Here there is no poverty, no sickness, no starvation, a place for the finer arts and luxuries." As Hekapoo explained as she noticed that they were garnishing a lot of attention from all the bystanders passing by.

Marco leaned into Hekapoo's ear. "Hey, is it just me or are people staring at us?" He whispered softly.

"Look again, Muscles." Hekapoo points out nonchalantly and inconspicuous so the onlookers don't see it. "They're looking at you."

"Why?"

"Have you looked at yourself in a mirror, Marco? Take a look at that guy over there." Hekapoo pointed out a nobleman with delicate features. "Do you think a guy like him as ever worked a hard day in his life? Let alone have fought a monster in his life. He's the very textbook definition of being born with a silver spoon in his mouth."

"I guess." Marco acknowledged. "But that still doesn't explain why they're looking at me. Don't these people have bodyguards that look like me or something?"

"Yeah they do but those bodyguards they have are more like over glorified mannequins used to display their wealth. Even the few actual guards that truly know how to fight are dragged down by their clients 'visual tastes' in aesthetics. I kid you not, I see knights here forced to wear gold armor instead of proper steel or wield a sword that looks like an abstract artist forged it. So seeing someone like you that looks like he was just in a fight for his life is a very foreign experience to them."

"I wouldn't say I was in a fight for my life."

"Not the point, Marco. All I'm saying is that to them you're some good eye candy."

"Not that I don't like being compared to sweet candy, but why are they not looking at you? You look better than half of the people here from what I can see."

"Well look at that, someone really wants to be promoted to boy toy." Hekapoo pulled Marco's arm closer to her as she lifted his leather jacket too show off some of his abs "Why do you think I brought you along?" Guiding Marco down the street they could hear people talking about them to one another.

'Is that Lady Hekapoo of the Magic High Commission?'

'Yes, but who the fuck cares. The real question is, who is that hot hunk she has in her arms?'

'Lucky bitch.'

'Cheek out those abs.'

'God, she's such a slut'

'Is he a gigolo?'

'He must be a best in the sheets if he's with Hekapoo'

'God, I love her dress.'

The things that were being said were both good and bad, but all the attention they were getting was still giving Hekapoo a smile to her face. She really did like being the center of attention in a situation like this as it made her feel special.

It didn't take very long to reach their destination, only a few meters from where they arrived in fact. The name of the restaurant was long and in a language Marco knew of but he didn't really care. This was where Hekapoo wanted to eat out at who was he to complain. Upon entering the establishment a good dress waiter was there to greet them and take them to a table with a nice view of the outside that showed a garden with glowing flowers that shined in every color at night. And then handed them both a menu each.

"Thanks." Marco thanked the waiter but was unsure if he would be able to read the menu if the name of the restaurant was anything to go by but as he looked at the menu the words seemed to change to English. "What the hell?"

"Cool, right? The menus here are magically enchanted to rewrite themselves in the favored language of the holder, see?" She explained as she showed him her menu.

Looking down at he did indeed saw the menu was in another language that he was familiar with. That being the language used in the Never Zone, Hekapoo's home dimension. The only things that stayed the same were the prices of each item.

The waiter returned after a few minutes of waiting for them to decide on what to order. Standing next to their table he waited to write down their order.

"I'll have the hydra brisket with deep glow mushrooms."

"Excellent choice my lady and what about you, my good sir?"

"I'll get the chimera tail venom stew."

"Again excellent choice and to drink?"

"I'll get a glass of your finest eight prefixes red wine."

"And just water for me thanks."

"Water Marco, seriously?" Hekapoo stared disappointingly at Marco

"You know I don't drink, especially ever since what happened on my 21st birthday. I cannot even remember the majority of what I did that night and the things that I do remember, I'm not proud of."

"Oh come on it wasn't that bad."

"I ran down a street naked and all of those pixies didn't stop looking at me afterward."

"Those pixie ladies like what they saw and who could blame them," Hekapoo argued. "Because I liked what I saw." She whispered that last part to herself.

"I was talking about the male pixies." Marco specified.

"They too liked what they saw, Marco."

"But they were all really aggressive and weird about it. Some of them even asked me to put them in my mouth."

"They asked me that too, but I'll admit you were the more popular one." She pointed out. "Must have loved all that attention because I would have."

"Well, I didn't."

"Don't care, just be a man and have a drink with me."

"No, I don't trust myself to be influenced by alcohol. Especially when you're around because I know you won't stop me from doing stupid things that I shouldn't."

"Marco Ub- pphtt." Hekapoo stopped herself from laughing at what Marco just said about her because it was very true. She wouldn't really stop Marco from doing something stupid. Unless it was absolutely necessary to intervene. "Marco Ubaldo Diaz."

'Oh shit, she's busting out my full name.'

"I give you a nice weapon, clothes that I made by hand, and don't forget you still owe me a lot especially after you let Ki go. So, all I ask is that we sit down, enjoy a nice meal, have a toast to our restored friendship, and have a drink. Is that so much to ask for?"

"Fine, I'll get 'one' glass of." Looks back at the menu. "White Wolf."

"Be honest with me Marco, you ordered that one because you thought the name sounded cool?"

"What, no I didn't! I got it because…" he looked back down to the menu and scanned the prices. "Because it is the second most expensive wine on the menu."

"Nice save Marco. Fun fact, that wine you ordered it was human made by other humans from another dimension outside of Earth."

"Really, there are other humans out there, how is that possible?"

"Well, there was this advent call The Conjunction of the Spheres were people and creatures from other dimensions fell in one world and humans happen to be one of them. In fact, it's quite common with your kind." Marco was about to ask about what she meant but the waiter intervened.

"I assume madam will be paying for tonight's meal?" the waiter assumed as he knew Hekapoo was rich and the man she brought with her looked like he just came out of a fight.

"Yes, that would be correct." She nodded. "I will be paying for tonight."

"Wow, wow, no you will not. I will be, it's the least I could do."

"That very sweet of you Marco but I don't think you'll be able to afford the prices here."

Taking this as an insult on his pride Marco couldn't back down on this. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised but I do have a lot of money." He pulled out six hunred fifty dollars from his pocket and slammed it on the table with a loud thud.

"Wow-wow look at all that money," Hekapoo mocked. "That's just enough to buy some of the appetizers here for one person."

Stunned Marco looked over to the waiter and asked. "She's joking right?"

The waiter nodded. "Yes, sir she is joking."

"Oh thank god." He sighed in relief.

"You are at least four hundred short of the cheapest appetizer we have here." The waiter finished his sentence.

"Guess you weren't really paying much attention to the prices that much hmmm, Marco."

Giggling to herself Hekapoo brought out her handbag from a small portal she opened and was about to pay for the bill until Marco stopped her.

"Stop!" Marco called out as he pulled out a small sack he got from Rich Pigeon. "Will this be enough?" he asked in a smug voice as he tipped the sack over and the gold and jewels fall out.

As the gold and jewels continued falling out Marco had now just realized that there was more treasure inside this small bag than it looked like. So much so that the gold and jewels were now covering the table and spilling over the sides.

'How much did that bird give me?' Marco questioned as he turned up right the bag as to stop the gold and jewels from spewing out any more.

The waiter proceeded to grab an arm full of the treasure. "This is more than adequate, my good man." And walked away to inform the cooks of the order until Hekapoo stopped him.

"Oh waiter, before go" Hekapoo grabbed a nicely sized ruby from the treachery pile and casually tosses it into his already full arms of gold he had. "Grab another unopened bottle of eight prefixes red wine while you're at it, okay? It's going to be a long night. Oh and keep the change, consider it a generous tip."

"Thank you, milady."

With the order and pay sorted out Hekapoo's focused returned squarely on Marco.

"Not going to lie, I'm impressed." Hekapoo complimented "Where did you get all this?"

Not even looking at her he replied. "From a job I did for Rich Pigeon." As he was shoving the gold and stuff back in the bag. "Can I get some help here?"

"Oh, sure no problem I've got it here give me the bag." Marco did as he was asked and handed the small bag over and as he does she makes a few clones and hands one of them the bag. "Now clean up." She commanded her clones.

"What?! You can't do this to us," one clone spoke up.

"Yeah, we want to have fun too," another clone added.

"You'll all have your fun later on tonight, trust me on this." She winked at her clones. "Now get to cleaning up."

Looking back at Marco, Hekapoo all of a sudden got this very serious look on her face that told him that the fun and witty banter had ended. It was the kind of look you'd give a person to tell them something of importance or are bearing some bad news. Whatever it was Marco was not ready for it.

"Marco… we need to talk. About us."


End file.
